Revved Forwards
by SpangleBangle
Summary: In the aftermath of Z-ONE, Yuusei and his friends are trying to get back to their normal lives. Everything is well... but Yuusei can't help but want to meet Yugi and Jaden again after their duel against Paradox. Synchroshipping.
1. Chapter 1

Hey~ Wow, I'm being productive aren't I? ^^'

I was rather behind the masses and only managed to watch Bonds Beyond Time a few weeks back. But... ye gods. Synchroshipping, yes please~ Some spoilers for the last season of 5Ds (the undubbed one with Z-ONE).

Also my chapters seem to be getting longer. I blame NaNoWriMo.

Rated T for now, will be upped to M in later chapters ;3 Also if you can't stand seeing Atem rather than Atemu... sorry. I watched the dubs of DM, I feel more comfortable with the dubbed names. We cool?

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>Yuusei spun the wrench absently in his hand as he thought, scrutinizing the innards of the Phoenix Whirlwind and wondering what had set it off this time. His first model had been a little temperamental of late, and Jack had been complaining so much about the crunchy, whirring noises she made whenever he revved her into gear that Yuusei had decided to kill two birds with one stone; fix the problem and stop Jack's whinging as well.<p>

He hadn't expected to find a serious problem – before the Grand Prix Tournament and all through it he and Bruno had gone over every inch of all of their bikes, tuning up and fixing any problems. Jack hadn't been doing anything overly stressful with his bike since then, to the best of Yuusei's knowledge. It had been fine right after the Grand Prix, and had only needed a little touching up after Z-One's defeat.

Yuusei sighed and the wrench stilled in his hand. That whole ordeal gave him an almost physical pain every time he thought of it. With that duel with his future 'self', Bruno's – Antimony's – betrayal and redemption… he set the wrench down and rubbed his face briskly, trying to banish the bad memories. He had tried talking to Jack and Crow about it, but none of his attempts had been very successful. Jack hadn't liked Bruno much from the beginning for inscrutable reasons of his own, and Crow had taken the quiet young man's death very hard indeed, and hadn't spoken in more than monosyllables for more than a week after Z-One's defeat. He wouldn't dream of burdening the twins with something like that – they were busy enough at school – and the same went for Akiza, despite the fact she had offered numerous times to stay over with him and talk it out. He just wasn't as close to her as he was to Jack and Crow.

He couldn't help the brief thought that maybe Yugi or Jaden would have understood – he knew they had been through similar ordeals, maybe if they had been able to meet again after that horrific encounter with Paradox he would have been able to talk to them more, get to know the legends he had grown up hearing stories about. But no.

He set his jaw and concentrated on carefully opening up a valve to see if there was something clogging it, forcing the other issues out of his mind. His concentration was so intense, almost at the level of a fully Clear Mind, he could even ignore Jack and Crow breezing back into the garage and clattering around in the tiny kitchen area they had.

But after some time – in which he had found the valve to be working perfectly, dammit – he found himself looking up and turning around, his attention drawn by something he couldn't quite define. He frowned, wondering what preternatural sense had made him turn. He watched a corner of the garage, empty but for a few tools, unable to take his eyes off the empty space.

Jack and Crow seemed to sense something as well, and poked their heads out of the kitchen to watch the corner too. Ever so slowly, the Signer marks on their arms began to burn, and Yuusei felt the Crimson Dragon on his back awaken, pulsing through his shirt and making his shoulder blades itch.

None of them dared say a thing; it was if the very house around them held its breath and pressed a finger to each of their lips, bidding them to wait for the mystery to unveil itself. Slowly the quality of light in the room changed, so slowly none of them realised what was happening until they were squinting towards the brightening corner, pearly light coalescing into a small form.

Suddenly Yuusei heard the screaming roar of the Crimson Dragon, and a vast peal of chanting voices, and with the sound came a great shudder in the light in the corner, and between one blink and the next, a person came to be, sprawled face-down on the floor.

The light ebbed away, and the sound died down. No one dared move, staring at the person – man at first glance – who seemed to have teleported into their garage.

Yuusei looked him over quickly, his chest tightening with some strange emotion as he looked at the strange hair and narrow frame, the wiry muscle on the deeply tanned arms, and the archaic-looking clothes he wore. Gold glinted at his arms and legs, and a pure white cloth was fastened around his hips with yet more gold. Yuusei's gaze travelled up the man's body again over his bare torso, more slowly, up towards the head. He caught his breath.

He could see dark black hair, tipped almost violet, and was that some blond he could see? He only knew one person with hair like that, though that young man had been much, much paler…

The man stirred, raising his heavily adorned arms shakily and pressing against the floor, raising himself to his hands and knees with his head bowed, breathing loudly and unsteadily. His hands shook as he ran them over the rough concrete floor, and he jumped slightly when his fingers touched.

Suddenly he groaned and said something in a pained voice that, if any of the others there could speak Ancient Egyptian, they would have heard as, "Seto? What in the name of Ra have you done now?"

Yuusei quietly got to his feet and walked over to crouch before the man, a tentative smile on his lips. "Yugi?" He said quietly. "Is that you?"

The man jerked around at the sound of his voice, a look of disbelief on his face. Yuusei took in a sharp breath; it was Yugi's face alright, though even more deeply tanned than Yuusei was, and heavily decorated with a gold winged headdress of some sort and long gold earrings. The man's eyes were closed, however, so he couldn't tell if they were Yugi's violet eyes.

"Y-Yuusei?" The man said in a rough voice, reaching out with shaking hands to touch him, quickly skimming over his hair and the planes of his face with gentle fingertips and nodding to himself. Yuusei fought down a blush.

"Yes it's me, it's Yuusei Fudo. Is that really you, Yugi? Why are you dressed up like that?"

"Dressed up…?" The man – Yugi? – said in bafflement, then quickly explored his arms and legs, brushing the cool gold bracelets clasped around his limbs. "Oh…Oh, I remember now. This is the real me."

"Yugi, you're not making any sense."

"Oh…I'm not Yugi, Yuusei." He said, seeming to look right in his eyes without even opening his eyes. "I'm the Pharaoh. Atem."

"Atem," Yuusei repeated, rolling the word around in his mouth and trying to connect it to what he knew of _that _figure. Yugi Motou was legendary, for sure, but the mysterious spirit of an ancient pharaoh was yet more legendary. The man, Atem, smiled weakly. "Alright," Yuusei continued. "How on earth did you get here?"

Atem's expression grew serious again. "The Gods cannot be denied," He said, and looked as if he would say no more on the subject, so Yuusei didn't press him just yet.

"Well. Why don't you open your eyes?"

"It's bright," Atem said promptly, frowning a little. Yuusei looked around the frankly dingy garage, what little light there was supplied by a few low-battery lamps and a scummy window. "They hurt."

Jack coughed meaningfully, drawing attention to the fact he and Crow were still present. He always seemed to get moody whenever Yuusei's attention was on anyone but himself.

"Who's there?" Atem said sharply, authority ringing through the room. Yuusei blinked in surprise, remembering how, when the Pharaoh had been in control of Yugi's body during the duel with Paradox, his voice had been just as strong and confident.

"My friends Jack and Crow," Yuusei said, smiling at them. Crow grinned back, and Jack looked just a little dumbstruck. "Hey guys, meet the King of Games."

"Not with the titles, please," Atem said with a weak wave of his hand and an embarrassed smile. "I'm certainly not in my own era, so they don't really apply."

"Well, it sure is great to see a celebrity in the flesh," Crow said, throwing Yuusei an astounded look. "I'm Crow Hogan. Nice to meet ya."

"Likewise, Crow," Atem said, smiling towards Crow's voice.

"And I'm Jack Atlas," Jack announced loudly. "I'd say you're almost as great a legend as I am myself."

"Oh give it a rest, Jack," Crow laughed, digging the taller man in the ribs with his elbow. "Just say hello like a normal human being."

"He's the King of Games!" Jack hissed to him in reply, obviously trying to be subtle. "What the deuce am I supposed to say?"

Atem cleared his throat delicately, drawing their attention again. He 'looked' towards Jack and smiled. "Good day to you too, Jack Atlas. I look forward to discussing duelling strategies with you later."

It was a good thing Atem had his eyes closed or he would have seen the monstrous blush that spread over Jack's face at being greeted by the King of Games himself, only Jack's greatest hero of all time. Crow laughed and patted Jack on the back. Yuusei watched the exchanges with a smile, a strange lightness in his heart and a tightness in his chest. After a few moments of looking at Atem – right there, right next to him again! – he realised that was he was feeling was _anticipation_. Though for what he didn't know.

Almost as if he had heard Yuusei's thoughts, Atem turned back to him and smiled. "So yes, hello again. How are you? And where are we in time? Obviously you've returned from my – Yugi's – time. How long since then?"

Yuusei laughed. "I'm doing good, thanks. Yeah, it's been a couple of months since Paradox. Saved the world again since."

"Oh, good job," Atem grinned. "It always happens at the most inconvenient times, doesn't it?"

Yuusei's smile widened. "Right in the middle of a duelling tournament, yeah."

"Oh I know," Atem laughed. "Yugi always got so uptight about that; once things starting hotting up we had no time to just duel for fun between Battle City and… the Ceremonial Duel." The mood abruptly became sombre as the subject of Atem's death reared its head, made more complicated by his presence there with them. Atem seemed to look around as if he were looking for Yugi and Yuusei felt his smile slip.

"Are you hungry, thirsty?" Crow asked awkwardly to break the silence. Atem seemed to appreciate the effort.

"No, thank you. Very kind of you."

"Well let's get you on your feet and then we can talk about however this happened," Yuusei said, hesitantly taking Atem's forearms in his own strong hands and standing up, pulling the other man to his unsteady feet. Atem overbalanced at first, and Yuusei had to grab his hands to stop him from falling over backwards. Forgotten, Jack frowned and crossed his arms.

"Thanks," Atem said. "I'm sorry for that, my legs don't seem to be able to hold me for some reason."

"Well you are dripping with gold," Yuusei pointed out, looking down his sleekly toned and rather on-show body to the ornaments that seemed a part of his skin. "That's got to be heavy."

"Yes, perhaps that's it," Atem mused, seeming to have forgotten that Yuusei was holding his hands. "Or maybe I haven't had my own body for so long… hm."

Yuusei couldn't help but observe that now they were standing, Atem was actually very short. Yuusei was used to being only a little taller than Crow – even Akiza was taller than him – but this was just bizarre. It was very odd looking down to someone who could outclass him and outduel him without breaking a sweat; he hadn't really noticed during the duel with Paradox because of all the stress of that particular situation. He wondered briefly if this was what Jack felt like with normal people, towering over their heads.

Atem tilted his head slightly to the side as if aware of the scrutiny, and a small smile cured his lips. "I'm sorry if my – ah – arrival prevented you from doing something, Yuusei. I wouldn't want to be in the way."

"No, no, it's fine," Yuusei said quickly, "I was only tinkering with Phoenix, it's fine."

"Who?"

"Oh – Jack's Duel Runner. She's been making some odd sounds lately."

"Well, I'm sorry for that," Atem said, turning blindly towards where Jack was. "I hope she isn't damaged, Jack."

Jack struggled to speak for a moment, torn between awed joy that the King of Games was taking an interest in his Duel Runner and jealousy that Yuusei was positively ecstatic at his arrival and was ignoring everyone else in the room. "Thank you," He said after a moment. "That's very kind of you."

Atem smiled a little at him and turned back to Yuusei. "So, ah, I'm sorry to be a bother. I'm not entirely sure why They put me here with you."

"They?"

"The Gods," Atem said easily, as if it were the most natural explanation in the world. "They said I was needed."

"But hang on right there," Crow said. "If you're the Pharaoh, didn't you – well – die?"

"Yes, I did."

Crow and Jack exchanged a glance that obviously said, 'did you understand that?'

"After the Ceremonial Duel," Atem started to explain, in a sombre voice that was directed at everyone though he remained facing Yuusei, hands firmly held in his, "I did indeed die. I went to the afterlife, with my dear old friends from my first life. But I was restless there; I missed Yugi and Joey and the other friends I had made in Yugi's world. I was happy to be back with my old friends, of course, but I still missed them." He was silent for a moment, presumably thinking.

Yuusei squeezed his fingertips briefly without even thinking about it, offering some wordless comfort. Atem squeezed softly back, his smile reawakening.

"I couldn't settle for the majesty I regained in the afterlife, I wanted to talk to my living friends again. It may sound terrible to not be happy with royalty, but the trappings of it… I couldn't wear them easily anymore. I had been very young when I took up my father's throne, and had taken them as my due. But after living in Yugi's world… it sat ill with me. I was used to helping Yugi and his friends in horrible situations, duelling for our lives and for the world, not sitting upon a throne all day."

"I can see that," Crow said with a grin. "None of us are happy just loafing around all day, we need to be doing things. Just look at Yuusei – if something twitches he'll take it apart and build it back up again just to see what's inside."

"I do not," Yuusei protested mildly.

"Well you always need to do something with your hands, at any rate."

Yuusei shrugged uncomfortably, very aware of where his hands were right then. "What were you saying, Atem?" It was a strange thrill to address him by his name, and the pharaoh smiled and squeezed his fingertips again, just barely enough that Crow and Jack wouldn't notice. But Yuusei did.

"I was restless, unable to be truly happy and at home. So after some time, Seto and my other advisors came to me, and they said they had been having most troubling dreams – oh yes, you can dream in the afterlife. They said the Gods appeared to them every night, always saying the same thing – I did not belong there anymore." He sighed and bowed his head a little. "So Seto insisted that I should be happy. He was my dearest friend back then. He and his acolytes worked for over a week , studying—"

"Studying? In the afterlife?" Jack interrupted him disbelievingly.

"Yes," Atem said mildly, unperturbed by the interruption though Yuusei frowned a little at Jack. "Everything in death is as it is in life. In the afterlife I experienced, anyway. The whole place was just like my city in Egypt, perfectly replicated. Without the Thief, of course," he said, his face darkening for a moment. "But anyway. They gathered, and created a spell that would send me back to life. I protested – I knew it was not my place to have another life, not after one of my own and one with Yugi, however short that had been. But he was adamant." Atem's expression softened slightly.

"What happened? They send you through a portal or something?" Yuusei asked, glancing to the corner.

"Something like that," Atem agreed. "The Gods appeared and explained that I could no longer belong in the afterlife – I had seen too much of the future. And They said I was still needed. Light enveloped me, and I heard a great roar… and then I was here," He finished awkwardly.

Yuusei glanced down to his bare arms, seeing the still-glowing Signer mark on his right. "It must have been the Crimson Dragon," He mused. The other two Signers agreed with serious nods of their heads, touching the marks on their arms.

"Well, everything's peaceful for now," Crow said, rubbing the back of his neck in bafflement. "Z-One's gone, and everything's normal. I hope this doesn't mean we're gonna have to face-off against some other bad guy soon."

Atem shrugged eloquently, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Well," Yuusei said firmly, changing the topic. "You're welcome to stay with us however long you like."

"Thank you," Atem smiled up at him. "I wouldn't wish to put you out, though..."

"It's fine, it's fine, we've got room," Yuusei assured him quickly. "Maybe we can get that duel you were talking about last time."

"I'd enjoy that," Atem said, reaching down to his side automatically to where Yugi had kept his deck. He frowned, searching his hip with increasing anxiety, looking for his deck. "It's not…" Yuusei glanced down and saw what Atem could not: he may have appeared in the flesh, but he had no cards upon him. His deck was gone. "Where is it…" Atem muttered, and broke off into a low stream of Egyptian, the tone of his voice betraying the fact he was swearing. Yuusei wanted to smile at such a legendary figure breaking into profanity, but the situation was too serious. Jack and Crow exchanged uneasy glances across the room – the King of Games without his trademark deck? It was unthinkable.

Yuusei frowned anxiously at the increasing desperation and even horror on Atem's face, his fingers skittering over the cloth and gold at his waist. It was painful to watch.

He reached down and gently took Atem's wrist, stroking the underside with his thumb unconsciously. "We'll have a look for it later," He said quietly. "Let's get you some more clothes, you must be freezing in just that – toga thing."

"Mm," Atem agreed, a little distracted. "Thank you."

"Come on then," Yuusei said, and pulled lightly on his hand. Atem nodded and shakily walked with him over to the stairs while Jack and Crow watched in idle quiet. "Alright? Are your legs stronger now?"

"I think so," Atem replied, and after a moment let go of Yuusei's hand to grip the banister instead. A flash of disappointment made itself known in Yuusei's chest. To distract himself, he absently measured Atem's height against his own, looking down to see where his hips and elbows were in relation to his own. He couldn't help but observe the flat, well-toned muscles of his chest and stomach, and the strength in his biceps and calves. He was skinny and small, but very strong, Yuusei would wager.

"Hm," He said thoughtfully. "Crow, you got any spare clothes? I don't think any of mine will fit him."

"Oh, sure!" Crow said, and sprang up the stairs ahead of them. "Finally, a benefit of always being looked down on by Jack!"

Jack rolled his eyes and smirked. "I can't help but be tall, as you know," He called after Crow.

From upstairs they heard Crow's shouted reply, "That's because you ate all our food when we were kids!"

Yuusei laughed. "Martha used to get so mad with you, Jack," He smiled at his friend, whose forbidding expression softened a little.

"You gave me your share anyway, if you recall," Jack said quietly.

"You were always hungry, how could I not?" Yuusei smiled at him, and Jack chuckled a little before moving off upstairs.

"You've been friends since childhood?" Atem asked after a moment, gripping the banister and stretching his legs a little.

"Yeah, we all grew up in the same orphanage after Zero Reverse. We've been close ever since. Well, Jack did go off with Goodwin for a bit, but he's back with us now. So yeah, we just sorta decided to live together," Yuusei shrugged.

"Zero Reverse?" Atem asked, frowning in puzzlement.

Yuusei blinked, surprised for a moment – everyone knew about Zero Reverse! – until he remembered Atem was from the _past_. "Oh, sorry. We're gonna have to give you some history lessons to catch you up. If you're gonna be here a while."

"History lessons about the future," Atem smiled. "Interesting. Oh well, here we go again."

Yuusei chuckled. "It must have been strange the first time, learning about how the world changed after your era."

"Yes, it was," Atem replied. "But, as Yugi said, it's a chance no one else has ever had, so I ought to appreciate it."

"You miss him."

Atem sighed. "Very much. We were partners for the better part of three years, and we were always in contact. It's strange not to see him at my elbow, or to be able to be at his." A sad smile curled his lips. "It's strange to be in _my_ body again."

Yuusei's eyes had to agree – the tanned, muscled body before him was much more appealing to him than Yugi's had been.

"Why don't you try opening your eyes now?" Yuusei asked. "It's really not very bright in here, honest."

Atem nodded and slowly opened his eyes, squinting and blinking for several minutes until the room became dark and Yuusei's face swam into wonderful focus.

Yuusei held his breath a little; those eyes were unmistakable, and they looked right into his own, bright and exotic.

"Hello, Yuusei," Atem smiled. "Good to see you again." Yuusei couldn't say anything, astounded by the soft amethyst colour of those sparkling eyes and their arresting hold on him.

"Okay, I've got some clothes!" Crow called, breaking the moment.

For the rest of the day Atem and Yuusei just talked, with occasional contributions from Jack or more often Crow. Yuusei was focussed on him to the exclusion of all else, and Phoenix rested forgotten on the other side of the room.

They found it extraordinarily easy to talk to each other about everything, and Yuusei discovered that when he talked about Zero Reverse and growing up on the Satellite, and the Dark Signers, and Kiryu, and all that had happened in the Grand Prix and Z-One, Atem listened eagerly, soaking up the information like a sponge and offering quick understanding and empathy where it was needed. It only helped Yuusei talk more, tell Atem about how he had felt going through it all.

Talking was a release he hadn't known he needed; he felt quite exhausted by the end of the day.

"So how come you didn't tell your friends about all this?" Atem asked as the sun was nearing the horizon. "They were there with you, they went through the same things. But you didn't tell them this sort of thing?"

"No," Yuusei admitted, a little shamed. "They were dealing with their own ramifications at the time, and I didn't want to burden them any further. Besides…" He hesitated and lanced uncertainly at Atem, who smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You didn't want to admit to being afraid, or in pain. They all looked up to you to be strong, and you didn't want to disappoint them."

"Yes," Yuusei murmured, looking down. "It's not like none of them would understand, that's not it. 'Cause they would, they definitely would. But… I just look at Leo and he smiles up at me and tells me I'm gonna beat the bad guys no problem, and I don't want to upset him by saying I'm not up to the job."

Atem squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright, Yuusei. You can talk to me; I understand. I've been through it all. Twice, in fact."

From anyone else, that statement would have been ridiculously pompous. But from Atem, it was just the simple truth. It made Yuusei's head spin and he had to look away.

"Is it too strange?" Atem asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Talking to me, I mean?" He didn't take his hand away though.

"It's a little strange," Yuusei admitted. "The last time, everything was too hectic to really understand what was happening other than the need to defeat Paradox. But now…" He shook his head in bewilderment.

Atem smiled gently and squeezed his shoulder again. "It's strange for me too. Meeting a man from the future and getting to live in his world? We are far beyond my time. I don't understand what the least of these devices do." He nodded at the array of mechanical implements spread out around Whirlwind Phoenix.

"Oh, them. It's alright, Jack doesn't understand them either," Yuusei grinned. "But I think I see what you mean. You're going to have to learn how to do _everything_ here, if you're staying for a while."

Atem sighed and his hand slipped slightly from Yuusei's shoulder. "Yes. And I don't know how long I'll be staying; there's isn't an Ishizu in your world – ah, this world I mean – is there?"

"Not as far as I know," Yuusei said and raised his hand to cover Atem's. "But it'll be alright. We can help you. You may not have Yugi this time, but you've got me." Atem blinked in surprise and Yuusei quickly added, "And Jack, and Crow, and our other friends."

An oddly sly smile grew on Atem's lips, sending a tingle down Yuusei's spine. He coughed and took his hand away. "I suppose you'd like to rest."

"To sleep," Atem mused. "Hm, that will be interesting. But yes, I am quite tired."

"Come on then," Yuusei smiled, pulling him to his feet and starting up the stairs. "You can have my room – no, no, it's fine. Really, Atem."

"Well alright," Atem laughed. "But where will you sleep? I don't want to put you out."

"It's fine, I'll sleep down here on the sofa. I've crashed there a couple of times before, when I'm working on something. I'll just get a blanket and some clothes from here, and I'll let you rest."

"Well okay," Atem said, watching him gather belongings from his cupboards with a smooth efficiency. "Goodnight, Yuusei."

Yuusei smiled at him from the doorway. "Goodnight, Atem. Sleep well." He softly closed the door on the King of Games, wondering why the prospect of having Atem sleep in his bed was making him feel so strange.

He shrugged it off and settled down on the sofa. It was probably just a bit of leftover awe from meeting him again. Yes, that was it.

That didn't explain why he couldn't stop smiling, though.

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><p>There you go C:<p>

I'm planning on continuing with this. Hope you enjoyed reading it and see you in chapter 2 when it's written, maybe?

Reviews would be appreciated C: Bye~


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys C: Chapter 2 for you. This would have been up around lunchtime GMT but I couldn't login until now D:

Some past-Kingcrabshipping in this one, but if you don't like the pairing don't worry, I'm not planning for it to be intrusive C: I love it to bits, it's my 5Ds OTP, but this is a Synchro story. C:

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi.

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><p>The next morning Yuusei woke up still smiling after a pleasant dream, though all he could remember from it was a low laugh and a pair of strong, lean, browned hands. He opened his eyes and stretched, swinging his legs onto the floor and working a kink from his neck. He glanced at a clock and shrugged – it was earlier than he usually woke up, but seeing as he was awake anyways he figured he might as well get up.<p>

Everything was as it should be in the workshop, nothing had changed since he fell asleep. He shrugged and started getting dressed. Just as he was about to pull a new shirt on he heard footsteps and turned around. He smiled up at the intruder, Atem.

"Good morning," Yuusei said as Atem stepped onto the stairway. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," Atem replied, his eyes on Yuusei's bared torso. "Very well, actually. Yourself?"

As they exchanged small talk, Yuusei noticed that Atem was rather openly examining his muscled chest and stomach, glancing over the lines of scars on his midsection from various dangerous duels. It made that feeling of anticipation return at a low burn under his skin. He didn't put the shirt on for some minutes.

Yuusei led him into the kitchen area and fixed him some breakfast, chatting with him idly.

"We need to get you some clothes of your own," Yuusei mused, watching him with his chin in hand. "I know Crow wouldn't mind sharing his clothes with you, but if you're gonna be here for a while you need some of your own."

Atem hesitated before replying, setting his mug of coffee down. "Yuusei… I'm afraid I don't have any money, and I wouldn't wish to depend on your charity—"

"Nonsense," Yuusei cut him off firmly with a wave of his hand. "It's the least I could do after what you did with Paradox."

Atem still looked uncomfortable. "Not to be rude, Yuusei, but I didn't duel him just for you. I duelled him to save my friends, too."

"I know," Yuusei smiled. "I meant getting my Stardust back from him. You didn't have to do that."

Atem had nothing to say to that, though he looked down and frowned at his hands clasped on the table.

"For a Pharaoh you're pretty uncomfortable with gifts, aren't you?" Yuusei smiled, taking a swig of his own coffee.

"Charity is not giving gifts," Atem said quietly.

Yuusei studied him for a few moments. "Well if that's the problem you'll just have to get a job and pay me back later."

Atem looked up sharply and a small smile formed, brightening his rather stormy expression. "Alright. What sort of job do you think I'd be suited for?"

The immediate thought that leapt to mind was a professional duellist of course, but that was impossible. Atem didn't have the deck he was used to – Yugi's deck – and in any case the rules of duelling and even the monsters themselves had changed so much since Yugi's time the game was almost another thing entirely. Atem would have to learn a whole new way of duelling for that to work. And it might pain him to be reminded of the loss of his deck.

Maybe a role with people… but he would have to learn recent history and trends to be able to really hold a conversation without it being obvious he had not grown up in the current time.

From the way Atem was looking at him, his face must have betrayed his thoughts.

"We'll think of something," Yuusei said. "Did you ever ride on a motorcycle, back then?"

"No, I didn't," Atem replied, smiling a little at the rather obvious conversation shift. "It was all blimps and planes, I'm afraid."

"Well then, today should be a treat for you," Yuusei smiled. "If Crow can be persuaded to lend you his leathers, you should come for a ride with me. We need to travel a bit to get to the clothes stores anyway."

"Do you think he would?"

"I don't see why not. Heck, he'd probably be falling over himself to offer." Yuusei smiled. "Jack too, if he was shorter."

Atem also smiled. "Your Jack reminds me of Kaiba. The attitude is almost uncannily similar."

Yuusei chuckled. "I'm sure Jack would be pleased to hear that. Oh, the Kaiba Dome is still standing, if you'd like to take a look later."

"Really? After all this time?" Atem replied, leaning forwards a little.

"Yeah. Well it got converted into a racing track for riding duels, but it's still essentially the same. You met there for the semi-finals of the Battle City Tournament, didn't you?"

"Yes, we did," Atem said softly, eyes distant. "That was an eventful tournament, all right." He hesitated before speaking again. "Yuusei, I can't help but ask… are any of them still alive?"

Yuusei reached across the table and put his hand over Atem's, his expression sad. "I know there's a Wheeler relative around, but that's all I know about your friends. The Kaibas are gone, though. I'm sorry."

Atem was silent for a moment, then murmured something in Ancient Egyptian that sounded like a prayer. "Thank you for not hiding that from me, Yuusei." He said then; he glanced down to Yuusei's hand and smiled faintly. "Thank you." For a moment Yuusei thought Atem was going to turn his hand so their fingers were entwined, and carefully caught his breath; the thought sending hot shivers through his body.

As loud footsteps and voices reached them, Yuusei couldn't help but wish in exasperation that his friends would have woken up a little later. He took his hand away and busied himself washing the few dishes they had dirtied with breakfast. He could feel Atem's eyes on his back every second until Jack and Crow diverted his attention, joking and chatting with him. Their awe seemed to have faded a little, though they were still a little reserved.

"Crow," Yuusei said casually at a natural lull in the conversation, leaning against the sink and keeping his hands busy by folding and refolding the towel. "Were you planning on riding anywhere today?"

"Nah, not for any reason. Maybe to just go for a spin. Why?"

"I was gonna take Atem out and around on my Runner, and he needs leathers for that. Would that be alright?"

"Sure, man! Of course! Take 'em, by all means!" Crow exclaimed, slapping Atem jocularly on the shoulder and grinning ear to ear. Atem more hesitantly smiled back, rolling his shoulder surreptitiously.

"My thanks, Crow," Atem said, inclining his head politely. "I'll take care of them."

"Heh, even if you fall off, they'll take care of you," Crow grinned. "I've lost count of the number of times they've saved my life."

Jack and Yuusei nodded in agreement, each remembering incidents where only the leather on them had protected them from more serious harm – and both had been hurt pretty badly while duelling. Their eyes met and Jack unconsciously flexed his weakened left arm while Yuusei rubbed his stomach, where he had almost been impaled after duelling with Kiryu. Atem watched them out of the corners of his eyes, missing nothing as he traded stories of duelling with Crow, who was eager to discuss duelling with the King of Games himself.

After breakfast Yuusei and Atem changed into riding leather gear. When Atem walked downstairs in Crow's get-up, Yuusei felt a slow smile on his lips. He looked damn fine in tight leather, and he seemed to know it too.

"This reminds me of Yugi," He joked. "He was rather fond of leather clothing."

"Yes, I remember," Yuusei smiled, and pulled his helmet on, a comforting and familiar weight on his head and neck.

"Come on, New Domino won't discover itself. I didn't build the bike to carry two people, but seeing as you're pretty slim I think we can both fit on." So saying he mounted his Runner and shifted as far forwards as he could without hurting more delicate parts of himself and did a quick test of the systems; all functional and ready to go.

Atem more hesitantly climbed on, trying not to jostle Yuusei too much as he found his seat.

"Feet secure? Good. But you'll have to hang on; I don't plan on going slowly. Just hang on around my waist." Yuusei instructed him casually, pulling on his arms when Atem rather shyly wrapped his arms around him, so that he was actually hanging on. With that low burn under his skin again, Yuusei pulled until they were pressed against each other, Atem's legs slotted in perfectly behind Yuusei's almost as if they were spooning. They fitted on, just barely. "There, that's more secure. Ready to go?"

Jack and Crow exchanged knowing looks as they watched Yuusei pull Atem closer. Jack's expression became frosty, an ugly look that no one but Crow was watching for.

"Ready," Atem grinned, slotting the visor down on his borrowed helmet.

Yuusei laughed darkly and revved the engine, lightly tapping his foot on the accelerator pedal and zooming out of Zora's workshop basement at high speed. Atem gasped in terror, the sound clear over the in-helmet communications he and Bruno had installed for the WRGP. His arms tightened around Yuusei in shock and his legs tensed, hanging onto Yuusei and the Runner for dear life as they sped around corners.

A wide grin stretched Yuusei's mouth, the joy of riding coupled with the intense thrill Atem's clinging was giving him filling him up. He didn't slow down, knowing that if he did it would take longer for Atem to get used to it. He didn't speed up much more, though, out of consideration.

After some time roaming the streets and highways, Atem's harsh static-burst breathing evened out to something more normal, and his hands stopped their death-grip on Yuusei's jacket, though he remained close and held on tight.

"Alright now?" Yuusei asked through the comm-system.

"Yes, thank you," Atem replied, though his voice was still a little panicky. "You're just going so fast."

"Do you want to stop?"

"No, keep going," Atem replied, and Yuusei could hear the smile in his voice. "Go faster, if you want." He leaned more into the curve of Yuusei's back, definitely spooning against him now.

Yuusei pretended not to notice, feeling rather hot under the helmet and enjoying it. This attraction between them… it was strange, but it felt so natural. He took them around Domino, doing his best impression of a tour guide.

"And there's what was the Satellite." He slowed the bike, looking over at what had been his home for the better part of eighteen years. It looked so different nowadays, he almost couldn't reconcile his harsh memories of living on the streets and under them, under the thumb of the police, with what he saw before him. Even seeing Daedalus Bridge made him feel uncomfortable; it was a reminder of Goodwin, and all he had done, both good and bad.

"You said the bridges are all duelling tracks?" Atem said after a few moments, squeezing his arms slightly as if they were embracing. Yuusei smiled to himself, grateful for the distraction.

"Yeah. If you engage a Speed World card while on those, the whole thing gets cordoned off for the duel. It's great – there's no danger to the city or crashing into people if you lose control."

"That sounds remarkable," Atem marvelled as they sped up again, passing behind a few buildings and out of view of the Satellite. "And the people of the city, they're all right with that? Their journeys being diverted so casually?"

"Yeah," Yuusei smiled. "Neo Domino City has a great tradition of duelling; it's the most popular sport or profession for miles around. And even if some people begrudge being diverted, they're diverted into alternate routes that aren't too far out of their way. It works out pretty well."

"That must have taken some planning," Atem remarked.

"Yes," Yuusei chuckled. "It took almost a year for all of it to be completed. It took a little longer for people to accept Satellites, but it all went pretty smoothly after that."

They continued on their tour, Atem experiencing all of Neo Domino and marvelling at the changes made since Yugi's day. It was jarring sometimes, seeing buildings that had hardly changed at all, such as the Kaiba Dome, standing beside huge skyscrapers made of glass and steel with holographic displays that screamed of the future.

Atem grew quieter the more he saw. There was no question he enjoyed the tour, but as he saw more of the city's people he was more acutely aware of how he did not fit in at all. He felt like a relic.

Noticing his discomfort, Yuusei pulled into a quiet layby and stopped the bike. He turned slightly in his seat to look at Atem over his shoulder. "I know it's all very different," He said quietly, his voice transmitted more through the comm-system than the air, "But you'll feel at home in no time, I promise. You managed with Yugi's world just fine."

"I _was_ sharing his mind back then," Atem pointed out, looking at the tall buildings everywhere. "I was able to learn directly through thought, rather than through books. It was more… instinctual. If I didn't know something, his mind would supply the answer." Atem was silent for some time. "I hope he was happy."

Yuusei couldn't deny that would be hard to get around. "Atem," He said firmly, drawing the other man's gaze back to himself. "You need to stop thinking about the past. You're here now. You should enjoy it. There are many wonders here that you couldn't have imaged back then. I know it's hard to let go of them, of Yugi, but – and I mean this as kindly as possible – they're gone now. If your coming is a sign of trouble to come, you need to be focussed on the here and now, to help us. To help me."

Atem looked down for a moment, rebuked. "You're right, of course. I apologise."

Yuusei smiled, tilting his head slightly to examine the man sitting behind him. "You're a remarkable person, Atem. I'm sure you can adapt."

They continued on their way until they reached the main shopping district, filled with the rich and trendy toting armfuls of bags on their arms and the unlucky arms of those dragged along for the day. Yuusei parked his bike in one of the bays and pulled Atem aside before they went any further.

"Now, we might get a little mobbed."

"How do you mean?" Atem asked, flicking up his visor.

Yuusei's cheeks darkened a little in a flush. "I'm quite well known, nowadays. People come up to me in the street. It's all a bit strange, but it does no harm, I guess. And when you take the helmet off you're going to be taken for a King of Games lookalike."

Atem grinned at the irony. "It's alright, the same thing used to happen to Yugi. I'm used to being 'mobbed', as you say. I'll keep quiet about who I am and let you field the questions."

Yuusei clapped him on the shoulder and took off his helmet, shaking his head slightly to free his hair from the helmet-mould it had shaped itself into. Atem smiled at the sight and followed suit.

Sure enough, as they moved through the district and through the shops, Yuusei was kept busy talking to his fans and diverting their attention from Atem. Everywhere they went, there were curious looks and questions as to why the hero of the city had acquired a new friend, an impressionist at that, but Atem was quickly dismissed in favour of talking to Yuusei Fudo himself.

Atem didn't mind at all: for all his life he had been the one in the spotlight, under the fans' attention. It was refreshing to be freed of that, and rather interesting to see how Yuusei dealt with it.

Plus it was a good excuse to watch Yuusei. He couldn't deny that he was attracted to Yuusei, rather powerfully in fact. It wasn't just the buzz of seeing him again and getting to talk to him, it was something else. Something primal that made his heart beat faster and adrenaline to pump through his veins as he watched Yuusei talk and laugh, watched how he walked and how he moved his strong-looking hands. The man was rather reserved around his fans, but Atem had experienced the warmth he reserved for friends first hand.

As he picked out some clothes to try on, he wondered idly why he had been brought to Yuusei's time. The man seemed far too capable to need help with anything, let alone a duel, and his friends were professionals and experts in that field anyway. Atem was sure that if it came down to more victory-or-death type duels, he would be useless. He knew nothing of this modern form of duelling, and the cards he was used to - with or without them on his belt – would be considered archaic and too old to duel with. They could not counter any of these new card attacks.

During the duel with Paradox, Atem had known that Yuusei's cards had been the most effective against the man. Naturally so, as he had used cards and techniques from the same era as Paradox, or at least closer to Paradox's level than Atem or Jaden had been. He could be no help against any duelling threats, and he knew next to nothing of this world.

So he was left to wonder: why was he here?

Yuusei interrupted his thoughts by coming up to him, smiling slightly. Atem realised the fans had mostly dispersed or were too shy to come up to Yuusei. "Alright? You look troubled."

"Yes, thank you. I was going to try these on."

"Good choices," Yuusei remarked, looking at the clothes Atem had picked out. Atem had taken care to resist the impulse to find clothes like Yugi had worn.

As tempting as it had been to seek comfort in familiar clothing, Atem knew that if he did he would be forever seen as a Yugi-lookalike, and he wanted to be seen as his own person. He was Atem, not Yugi, and not the amnesiac Yami that Yugi had known. He was a different man entirely.

To that end, he had picked out clothes that were dark, easy to blend into crowds with. Simple tight jeans and shirts, a few hooded jumpers that seemed to be all the rage. They weren't all black and navy, however. Many of them had colourful designs splashed over them in abstract paint patterns. He had found some boots as well that looked serviceable; jet black matte leather that reached up to his knees. He had picked them out in the knowledge that his main form of transport here would be by motorcycle with Yuusei and his friends, and he had noticed they all wore rather sturdy clothes and boots most of the time due to their penchant for riding their motorcycles.

In the changing rooms, Atem was dimly shocked at his appearance. He touched his cheeks and hair, unused to seeing himself as the tanned and lithely muscular pharaoh he had been. He had been expecting pale skin and a softer frame, more like Yugi's. When he had been Yami, he had looked more like Yugi did. Now he looked just the way he had in Egypt. With modern clothes, of course, and less gold jewellery. That had been locked away safely at the basement place Yuusei and his friends lived in, for fear of burglary.

In these new clothes he looked much different. It seemed he had good taste in modern clothing; he had picked out clothes that not only fit him, but that seemed to flatter him. He thought he looked good, anyway. When he opened the door to ask Yuusei's opinion on some of them, he was rewarded by the look on Yuusei's face. Even if he looked ridiculous, Yuusei liked it. It made heat pulse through him and the adrenaline pumped faster. Before deciding whether to get the clothes, along with some other items such as underwear he hadn't asked Yuusei's opinion on, he surreptitiously checked the price of them. He was satisfied that they weren't extortionately expensive, though all together they still came to a large sum.

"Thank you, Yuusei," Atem said quietly as they headed back to the motorcycle. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

Yuusei was about to say 'don't worry about it', but stopped himself, remembering Atem's reaction to charity before. So instead he said, "Take as long as you need. I don't mind gradual repayments."

Atem's smile widened and he seemed content with that answer.

They took the long way back to Poppo Clock, giving Atem a continuation of the tour. He was happier now, dwelling less on comparisons to the Domino City he had known through Yugi, and enjoying himself in the present.

When they got back to the workshop, Atem changed into his new clothes and handed Crow his leathers back with grateful thanks. Crow was just happy to have helped, and assured him he could borrow them whenever he liked.

Jack came up to Yuusei, who was compulsively checking his motorcycle. It was just them in the room, Crow having gone upstairs to put his leathers away while Atem changed his clothes.

"What's up, Jack?" Yuusei asked.

Jack got straight to the point, standing with his arms folded and a cross expression on his face. "You were getting very touchy-feely with him earlier."

"Well yes, I didn't want him to get killed from not hanging on properly." Yuusei straightened and looked up at Jack. "What's the problem?"

"You practically jumped for joy when he arrived, and every time he walks in a room you get all happy and smiley."

Yuusei raised an eyebrow. "So I'm happy to see him again. How is that a bad thing?"

"You're never that happy. Not even with me." Jack replied coldly. "Even back then."

Yuusei of course knew what he was referring to, and sighed. "Let's not get into this, Jack. That was a long time ago."

"A couple of months at most, Yuusei. You want to sleep with him, don't you?"

Yuusei flushed darkly and frowned up at him. "Jack, stop it. What, are you jealous? You were the one who said we should stop – being together."

Jack scowled. "You weren't happy with me, Yuusei. You just kept moping over Bruno and that freak Z-One. And you know I can't stand competition for you."

Hurt flashed through Yuusei's chest at Jack's accusations. Even after all this time and Yuusei's efforts to gentle him, Jack could still be one of the cruellest people Yuusei knew. And he knew Yuusei intimately, he knew what hurt him most.

"That was low, Jack."

He refused to apologise; in fact his expression got more annoyed. "I'm not saying I regret breaking up, Yuusei. It was fun, but we both had to move on. I accept that." He waved a hand magnanimously and the emotional pain he had caused Yuusei faded a little. "But I can't stand seeing you flirt with him. It's painfully obvious, Yuusei, and you can be sure Atem knows it too. He hasn't been here two days yet, and we don't know how long he'll be here for. You're being stupid, and that's not like you."

Yuusei flushed again. "What do you want me to do, Jack? Stop being me just because you're… jealous, or whatever this is about?"

Jack shook his head and said quietly, "Don't get yourself hurt again."

Yuusei was speechless from Jack's warning, and watched dumbstruck as Jack walked out, calling back that he was going for some fresh air. He leaned against his motorcycle and frowned down at the floor.

Had he really been so obvious?

As was the way with all private conversations, it hadn't been as private as the participants had thought. Up on the metal staircase, Atem silently backed away into his room, giving Yuusei some privacy.

He wasn't greatly surprised that the attraction he felt to Yuusei was reciprocated; Yuusei had responded to his presence with surprising warmth, and the unconscious touches that had fired both their blood. He supposed it wasn't a great shock that Yuusei preferred men, either. Yugi had told him that as time went on, behaviour of that sort was more tolerated. And this _was_ the future, after all. It made sense for that trend to continue.

The news also brought a slight smile to his face; back in Yugi's time, Atem had needed to keep his attractions to some of the men Yugi had met a secret. Yugi had been rather an innocent, after all, and as Yami the amnesiac spirit he hadn't really understood his own feelings; they had confused him, informed by Yugi's own embarrassment over the topic of sex, never mind sexuality.

He gave Yuusei some more time to himself before going downstairs. He acted as if he hadn't overheard the semi-argument between the two old friends and apparent ex-lovers. Yuusei acted as if everything was normal, though he seemed a little more reserved with Atem than he had been.

They sat down together and talked. Atem tried to draw him out again with mixed degrees of success. When Crow bustled in, saying he needed space to cook if they wanted to be fed, Atem casually put his hand on Yuusei's back as they walked.

"Tell me what's the matter," he said quietly, sitting down with him and letting his hand linger in a slow stroke across Yuusei's back before he removed it. Yuusei relaxed more at the touch and smiled.

"It's nothing, Atem. Just Jack being annoying."

"He seems a good friend," Atem remarked. "He cares about you a great deal, anyone can see that."

Yuusei's eyes flickered, suspicious that Atem _had_ overheard them after all. Atem smiled blankly, giving nothing away with the expert poker face that had come in handy so many times in his duels.

Atem patted Yuusei's knee and nodded to the motorcycles across the room. "So how does duelling on one of those work, precisely?"

Yuusei grinned and immediately launched into a complicated explanation involving speed counters, turn taking, corners and special effects of certain cards. Atem was happy to listen, seeing how Yuusei brightened at the chance to explain his passion and his profession. He soaked up the information like a sponge, curious and feeling rather better about his place in this confusing new world as he learned about this type of duelling, that seemed to underpin society here.

As they moved into an even more complex explanation about Synchro-Summoning, something Atem had been curious about ever since Yuusei's ingenious use of the technique against Paradox, Yuusei seemed even happier, taking out his deck and laying some cards out on the floor to show possible routes to summoning something.

In the kitchen, Crow smiled to himself. It seemed Yuusei had found something to make him smile at last, after the horrors of facing off against Z-One, and Bruno's defection and redemption. He pushed the thought of Bruno away – the man's loss still grieved him deeply – and concentrated instead on listening to Yuusei talk on about his beloved Stardust Dragon. He may have lost Bruno, but he was glad Yuusei was happy again, that he had found someone to talk to as he couldn't talk to Crow or Jack. And who better than the King of Games himself?

Crow smirked. Who better than someone who clearly wanted Yuusei as badly as Yuusei wanted him? It seemed things were going to get interesting again.

* * *

><p>There you go C:<p>

Yes, I still ship Bruno/Crow. Shush.

Hope you all enjoyed, if you could take a moment to review I'd really appreciate it ^^ See you in the next chapter~


	3. Chapter 3

Hey there~

Sorry this chapter took a little longer than anticipated, the research I had to do for it took a while. That said, if anyone spots any inaccuracies, by all means tell me in a PM and I'll change it, no worries.

Anyways, enjoy.

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

* * *

><p>A week or two after Atem's arrival in Neo Domino city, he wasn't feeling much more at home. He knew a lot more about recent history, for sure, though he still felt somewhat isolated from the people in the street.<p>

He wondered if it was simply a sense of dislocation, if he might get over it as someone moving to a new house might. In his bleaker moments he wondered if he was simply too far from his own time to adjust, if things were simply too far from what he had known as a pharaoh to accept and understand. It had been some thousand years, a few millennia. That concept alone made him feel ill, the concept of so much time passing. It was almost incomprehensible.

It wasn't as though Yuusei and his friends hadn't done everything they could to help him – giving him lessons on the happenings of the world in general and Neo Domino, the sorts of things people talked about nowadays, how the basic technology they used worked –, in fact they had been so helpful Atem had felt sometimes almost as if he had been their friend for years. But the very fact of having to learn it made him feel strange and alien.

They didn't patronise him, as you might in teaching a child history and culture. But Atem was hesitant to ask the obvious questions, ones that no one who had grown up in this time would have asked; such as 'what does that button do?' when the answer was something like 'it switches the microwave on'. He knew they wouldn't judge him, or mock him, or do anything except calmly explain what it did, and show him. But still he didn't want to see that momentary flash of surprise and incredulity in their eyes, when they were clearly wondering what other simple things they would have to teach him.

He had been introduced to Yuusei's other friends, of course. They were visited pretty regularly by a group of people, usually a policeman with large eyebrows called Ushio who looked strangely familiar, a blue-haired bureaucrat called Mina with an obvious crush on Jack, a tall woman with pinkish red hair and odd dresses called Akiza with a painfully obvious obsession with Yuusei, and two green-haired twins called Leo and Luna.

To these people he had been explained as an old friend from the Satellite who had lived in another city for some years, but was staying with them for a while. They had accepted this explanation with trusting smiles, and Atem felt a little guilty for deceiving them, but he agreed with Yuusei that it probably wouldn't be wise to proclaim his presence to all and sundry; even their friends. If his coming was to help in some sort of cataclysmic disaster, then he was the 'ace in the hole', as Crow had said.

Atem didn't really understand the metaphor but it was just one more thing he didn't want to ask. He understood the need for secrecy, however. When he had expressed uncertainty about the deception to Yuusei, the other man had smiled and patted him firmly on the shoulder. "We'll tell them eventually," he had said. "When there's no need to keep you a secret anymore." His words and his touch had eased Atem's conscience somewhat.

He did wonder though, with a smile this time, why Mina and Akiza seemed hopelessly unaware of their crushes' true desires. It seemed that either they knew and hoped anyway (which seemed a little pointless to Atem, as it was obvious to him that Jack and Yuusei were not likely to change), or that for whatever personal reasons of their own, the turbo duellists simply hadn't told them. He couldn't think why; they were nice women who probably wouldn't judge them. Maybe it was a new form of social taboo.

In Yugi's time, it hadn't been particularly taboo to be homosexual, though it was usually not shouted from the rooftops as Atem had understood it. Maybe what he had thought before was wrong, that maybe sexual permissiveness hadn't continued in an exponential curve as time progressed.

That naturally raised the question of whether it would be considered bad-mannered to ask Yuusei.

Atem sighed and rolled over in bed, cocooned in Yuusei's bedsheets and the silence of the deep of night. It was all so complicated and frustrating to him, and on nights such as this those thorny questions plagued him and caused him to stay up long past when he would have liked, to stay awake into the dead hours of the night.

Sometimes when he was awake like this, he would wonder why in Ra's name he had been brought to this time. There were no big tournaments coming up, no sinister happenings in Neo Domino, no threats to the city or its people. Why, then, was he here?

The gods and priests had said he would be needed here, that seeing as he couldn't settle in the afterlife it would be best if he were sent to this time, effectively killing two birds with one stone. His discomfort would be alleviated, and apparently he could help resolve the threat in this time.

But there was no threat, not yet anyway.

He had been trapped in his Puzzle for a reason; to help Yugi defeat his own inner demons and along the way save the world a few times, and face the thief again. His mission accomplished and Yugi able to cope on his own, everything had been simple at the end. Surely if he had still been needed in the future, he wouldn't have passed into the afterlife in the first place, but remained as a spirit on Earth?

A small voice then had to ask the question: had the priests lied to him about his purpose here? Had he been put into this time for no reason other than it was far enough in the future he wouldn't be able to effect those he had known in Yugi's time, and to get rid of him?

And why could he no longer feel the gods with him? Had they abandoned him to this time? He even thought that maybe they had passed out of existence from lack of worship.

Atem pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to push away those thoughts. They were not constructive, and only made him feel cold and hollow.

He decided that trying to get to sleep was fruitless, and got out of bed. When he had been a boy, his father had often taken him into the holy temples, where only the selected priests and the pharaoh's family could step. His father, Aknamkanon, had often worshipped the gods when he was troubled or needed answers. Atem remembered well the time his father had knelt in the Sanctuary and begged forgiveness for the creation of the Millennium Items. Perhaps, Atem thought, he should try to pray. Perhaps that would bring him some of the answers he craved.

Of course, there were no temples nearby, no holy places where he could feel the gods' presences and commune with them. Ideally he would make an offering to them, but he knew he did not have the resources to do so. All he could think of was the morning ritual, but he was hesitant about taking Yuusei's food without asking; and he did not want to involve them in this. It was private. He didn't want them to know just how isolated he felt, how much he needed to hear the gods again.

He bit his lip. Surely they wouldn't mind him taking just some bread and milk? He wouldn't take as much as would be fitting for the gods, only a little. Maybe they wouldn't even notice it. He nodded. It would be a poor offering, but it was the best he could do, in his circumstances.

That decided, he dressed himself in his old clothes, those he had been transported from the Afterlife wearing. He nodded to himself as he took the linen garments and gold jewellery from the box Yuusei had put aside for them. Just handling them brought him a modicum of comfort.

He thoughtfully removed his earrings, weighing them in his hands. They bore the shapes of ankhs, the only symbols of the gods he had to hand. The ankh was a symbol of life, not of any particular deity, but it would have to serve.

He couldn't help but think that this offering would be haphazard at best.

He quickly moved downstairs, feeling that to perform this in Yuusei's room would be wholly inappropriate. He quickly gathered a few slices of bread and a bowl of milk, and knelt into the corner he had been transported into, feeling it to be the place closest to the gods he could find. He composed himself and placed the ankh-shaped earrings on the floor with great care.

He filled his mind with thoughts of the gods and his need to talk with them, and began to softly chant in ancient Egyptian, laying out the offerings with a controlled pace before the earrings and kneeling with his hands on his knees, eyes closed and face turned up to the ceiling as he finished laying them out. He kept chanting, barely above a whisper, imploring the gods to speak to him again.

He stayed there for some time, until the sun began to rise. It was inevitable he would be discovered.

Yuusei had been roused by the faint sound of chanting and had gone down to investigate, sleepily thinking maybe some Dark Signer throwbacks had broken into their home. When he had seen Atem he had stopped in the shadows and hesitated.

It was obvious he was intruding on an intensely private ritual, and he was caught between trying to creep away without making any noise and announcing his presence. So he wavered, watching and hoping that Atem didn't notice him.

As he watched Atem, he could feel his chest aching in sympathy. He couldn't understand the words, but the tone of Atem's voice and his body language told him that the man was praying for guidance, and the most vulnerable-sounding Yuusei had heard him. Atem's voice became increasingly more desperate and he raised his hands up shakily, confusion and hurt in every line of his body.

His voice faded until Yuusei could no longer hear, and the chanting ceased. Atem slumped a little and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook and Yuusei knew with a painful certainty what Atem was weeping, as a widow might weep at her beloved husband's funeral, without reserve and all raw pain.

Atem wept for a few minutes, then wiped his eyes and took his earrings off the floor. Yuusei froze, knowing Atem was about to turn around and would see him. Yuusei held his breath, not sure exactly why he was doing it.

Atem turned and sucked in a breath, eyes wide as he processed the inevitable questions: how long had Yuusei been there? How much had he seen? What did he think?

Atem looked down at the ankh-earrings in his hands, his expression one of the utmost humiliation and shame.

Yuusei didn't know what to do. Unable to bear the tension in the air any longer, he broke the silence.

"What were you doing?" He asked softly, coming hesitantly down the metal stairs.

"I was praying for guidance," Atem replied with difficulty, his mouth not seeming to want to form the words. "I only took a little bread and milk."

"What's wrong? Why were you praying?" Yuusei asked, sitting cross-legged next to him.

Atem's mouth twisted bitterly. "I am weak."

Of all the responses Yuusei had expected – wanting to feel in touch with familiar customs again, needing help, feeling alone – that one was not one he had thought of. He took a few moments to process what Atem had said.

"Weak? You? You're one of the strongest people I know, Atem," Yuusei smiled.

Atem did not reply, and his hands tightened around the gold earrings. Apparently that had_ not_ been the right thing to say. He studied Atem's downturned face for a few moments.

"Why are you so upset?" He asked gently, barely quieter than a murmur. Atem's cheeks flushed darkly and a muscle jumped in his cheek. He said nothing for some time, and Yuusei was patient, seeing that Atem was trying to work up the courage to speak.

Eventually, he responded in a voice so defeated and dejected it struck Yuusei to the core, "I am weak because I have failed as a pharaoh. I can no longer hear the gods. I cannot hear them."

Atem turned his face away, eyes clenched shut. Yuusei had the strong suspicion he was trying not to cry. Yuusei knew this would have to be handled delicately. He wasn't a religious or spiritual man himself, aside from a respect for the Crimson Dragon, but he could understand at least a little how Atem was feeling.

He had been a pharaoh, an intermediary between the gods' will and his people, as Yuusei understood it. His function had been to help interpret the will of the gods. Even if he had no people to guide, it must be such a part of him that he felt utterly abandoned for what could be the first time in his life. Yuusei bit his lip. Transported to the future with no explanation, bereft of his deck and the friends he had known back when Neo Domino had just been plain old Domino, and with no way to worship his gods. It was a wonder he hadn't tried praying before. Yuusei wasn't sure he would be able to cope, in Atem's shoes. Or sandals, currently.

"Atem," Yuusei said softly, putting an arm around his shoulders and sitting close beside him. "You've nothing to be ashamed of; these things happen. Maybe they know you don't need their guidance anymore."

He didn't reply for a while, but he didn't exactly pull away either. "It isn't that I'm not enjoying being here, Yuusei," He said in a quiet voice eventually. "But I feel so alone here. I've heard the gods' advice since I was a young boy, and now I can't hear them."

Yuusei tightened his arm around Atem and pulled him closer, his chest tightening again in sympathy.

"The worst part is I don't know why I can't hear them anymore," Atem admitted. "It could be that they're too far behind for me to hear them. Their age might have passed. Or they could have abandoned me, or I have failed them and they have withdrawn themselves from me as punishment. I just don't know. But I don't know what I could have done to fail them."

Yuusei didn't really know how to comfort him. "Maybe they can't hear you," He suggested. "You wouldn't normally worship them like this, would you? You'd have temples, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, we would," Atem said, brightening a little. "And these earrings aren't exactly vessels for them, they were the best I could find. Although… they used to speak to me sometimes when I wasn't in a temple." He frowned. "When I needed them the most, or the circumstances were dire, they would speak directly to me." He rubbed his fingers over the earrings, deflating a little.

"Maybe they need to be worshipped properly then," Yuusei said gently. "The circumstances aren't exactly dire."

"Maybe you're right." Atem said, straightening a little and leaning more into his arm. Yuusei squeezed his shoulder, and Atem looked up and smiled faintly at him. He couldn't help but wonder if this moment would be rudely interrupted by the arrival of his friends, yet again.

Thankfully, it wasn't, and Atem briefly put his hand on Yuusei's knee before getting up. Before Atem went back upstairs to change into more everyday clothes, Yuusei called his name softly, pausing him in his progress up the stairs.

"Atem… don't be shy about using the food," He said, motioning to the poor offerings in the corner. "It's alright, no one will mind."

Atem smiled a little at him. "Thank you, Yuusei. That means a lot to me."

Yuusei went into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast with a smile on his face. He hadn't realised how strongly Atem had felt isolated, but hopefully he would feel more comfortable with them soon.

Midway through breakfast, when Jack and Crow had appeared at the smell of coffee and toast respectively, there was a loud banging on the warehouse doors. The four men exchanged surprised glances before Crow opened the doors, to be knocked aside by ten or more burly and cold Sector Security officers bursting through the door and lining up in two precise rows in the middle of the warehouse, kicking aside tools and engine parts that had been carefully arranged on the floor. Yuusei sprang from his seat.

"Hey! Just watch what you're standing on!" He managed to rescue some more-sturdily built parts, but to his obvious anger others were callously crushed beneath hobnailed boots.

"Do you have any idea how much this costs to buy?" He demanded of the officer who had crushed the part in his hand, who endeavoured to ignore the infuriated man waving it in his face.

There was a polite cough from the door and Lazar stepped into the room.

"What's the meaning of this, Lazar?" Jack demanded, coming out of the kitchen with Crow; Atem remained out of sight but listened attentively. "What gives you the right to come smashing in through here?"

"Aw man, it's crushed!" Crow said, sifting through the nuts and bolts debris of a valve he had made himself.

"I needed a proper escort across the city," Lazar said in answer to Jack's question. "I _am_ the Mayor, after all. But it wasn't my intention to smash anything. Captain!"

The captain of the troops stepped forward. "My apologies, Mayor. We're used to dealing in force with some of the types in this area."

At that moment Zora came stamping down into the workshop. "What's all this noise about? Have you boys been exploding things again? Jack, Crow, I'm looking at you!"

Before an argument could erupt, Yuusei stepped in. "It's alright, Zora. Mayor Lazar wanted to speak to us, and apparently that meant stepping all over our work."

"Oh well if it's alright with you, Yuusei, then it's alright with me," Zora gushed with a wide grin. Then she turned to Lazar and, with not an ounce of respect, declared, "If you upset Yuusei or his building there will be hell to pay, Mister Mayor!"

"I assure you this is a quick visit, Madam," Lazar replied, a little on the back foot, and Zora swept out with a huff. Lazar turned back to Yuusei. "I have a proposition for you, Yuusei Fudo, that I hope you will accept."

"What sort of proposition?" Yuusei said warily, setting the broken part on a table as gently a father might put his new-born child into a crib.

"A job offer," Lazar replied, and pulled out a crisp envelope from his jacket. Yuusei took it automatically and opened it, leaning his hip against the table as he read through the letter.

After he had finished, he glanced at his friends, then back to the kitchen before turning his attention to Lazar, who was waiting patiently.

"You're serious about this? I'm no physicist. I'm not my father, and I'm no Roman or Rex Goodwin either."

"No, but you are the best duellist in Neo Domino." Jack folded his arms crossly, but Lazar paid him no attention. "And you saved the city from Z-One. And you're a damn good engineer. You know what we could be facing if we don't address the issues that led to Z-One's world, and I know you have ideas how to prevent it. You wouldn't have worked so hard to win that duel if you didn't think the future could be changed."

Yuusei turned the letter over in his hands, smoothing the paper. "I'll need to think about it."

"What's there to think about? Do you want to save the city or don't you?" Lazar replied, but then shrugged. "But as you wish. Kindly have made a decision in the next few days and inform me with haste. This project is going ahead with or without you, Yuusei, but I know its results could be achieved much more quickly with you on board."

Yuusei clenched his jaw but didn't reply as the Securities peeled out of the room in order, Lazar following after. As soon as they were gone the three others went over to Yuusei, who was scowling down at the letter.

"What's the job?" Crow asked.

"They want me to help them design a new type of motor," Yuusei replied. "To replace the Ener-D reactor my father built. They want to make a new type of energy that won't lead to the destruction of the city in the future. They're going to call it the Future engine."

"Are you gonna say yes?" Crow asked.

"I don't know," Yuusei said, looking each of them in the face, lingering on Jack and Crow. "Accepting it will mean we'll have less time together. I'd be working all day every day, we wouldn't have any time to be together."

Jack coughed, drawing attention to himself. "Well… about that. There's something I've been meaning to tell you both for a while now."

"What is it?" Yuusei asked, dread clutching him. He thought he knew what Jack was about to announce.

"I'm going to go solo again," He said, squaring his shoulders. "I had fun as a duelling team, but it's time to move on. I'll never know my true strength unless I'm forced to rely on only myself."

To Yuusei it sounded eerily like how Jack had summed up his reasons for ending his relationship with Yuusei.

"What? You're gonna leave? But things have only just calmed down since we all met up again!" Crow exclaimed, grabbing Jack's coat. "You can't just leave!"

"It's just something I have to do. And get off my coat, Crow, you'll get it dirty."

"I'll—!"

"Guys!" Yuusei interrupted Crow before another squabble could commence. "Jack, are you really sure that's what you want to do?"

Jack nodded firmly. Yuusei sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming for him like a motorcycle at full speed. He wasn't really surprised; Jack wasn't the sort to stick around for long anyway. But he would miss his old friend when he was gone.

"What about you, Crow? Any revelations while we're at it?"

"Well," Crow said hesitantly. "Ushio did say they're recruiting at Sector Security… I was sort of tossing around the idea of going for a place. He said they're changing things there. I kinda wanna help, if I can."

Atem stayed quiet, knowing he had no place in this conversation.

"You might as well accept the job, Yuusei," Jack said in a strangely gentle voice. "Everything changes. I'm going to be going all over the world, Crow's likely going to join the Sector force. Akiza's going into her final years at Duel Academy, and the twins are going to want to focus on school as well. You want to help the city anyway, you damn hero. Take the job, save it in advance."

"It's not like we'll never see each other again," Crow added, clapping Yuusei on the shoulder. "If you want the job, take it. We all survived living on our own before, after team Satisfaction collapsed."

Yuusei looked down at the letter again, a brooding frown on his face. "When are you going?" He asked Jack without looking up.

Jack shrugged. "The end of the week."

"And you only told us _now_, you great jerk?" Crow exclaimed, whacking him on the arm angrily, obviously hurt.

"What? Like you said, I won't be off the map or anything."

While Jack and Crow squabbled, Yuusei glanced at Atem, who was watching them silently with a neutral expression. His eyes met Yuusei's and he nodded slightly. They were thinking the same thing: maybe this reactor was the reason Atem had been brought to them. Maybe something bad was about to happen with the project; Roman Goodwin came to mind as an example of good intentions gone wrong. If that was the case, it would be sensible to have someone on the inside, as it were.

"I'll take the job," Yuusei said after a few minutes, breaking up the fight that was about to come to punches between Jack and Crow. "My father named me for the particle to connect everything. He told me to be the link that connects people's hearts and minds together. This project, this engine, will do just that. I'll take the job."

The others smiled and told him it was the right thing to do. But as Yuusei looked at their faces, he couldn't help but feel the pain of impending loss. He knew, despite their assurances that they would all meet up regularly, and that nothing would _really_ change, that it would all be different.

They would be moving in new directions, away from each other. No matter how many times they met up, it would still be different to the comradeship they had enjoyed in the Satellite growing up together, or in this garage as team members. He swallowed with difficulty and forced a smile on his face.

He wouldn't spend these last few days together moping; they would be days of happy memories, he was determined.

Jack and Crow didn't see the hard quality to his smile, too caught up in their own plans and fighting with each other. Atem did, however.

When Jack and Crow had moved back into the kitchen to continue their good-natured argument over more coffee, Atem gently put his hand on Yuusei's shoulder.

"It'll work out, you'll see," He said quietly. "It's time for all of you to be more independent. This stage of your life is ending, yes. But there's a whole new one opening up before your feet." He squeezed, smiling up at Yuusei.

Yuusei slowly smiled back, struck by the irony of Atem lecturing him on moving on when their positions had been different an hour or two ago, with Yuusei counselling Atem.

"You're right." Yuusei looked over at the kitchen and smiled fondly at his friends sitting casually together as they had so many times. Then he looked at Atem and knew he was the future. "Yes, you're right. It's time, I suppose."

Atem nodded and went into the kitchen to get a drink, his hand sliding down Yuusei's arm to briefly grasp his wrist as he went. The flush of warmth that carress sent through Yuusei pushed back the icy dread of leaving his friends. It put a smile more firmly on his face.

With his shouldes set relaxed and a _real_ smile on his face, Yuusei joined his friends old and new in the kitchen, and happily chatted with them, the time sweetened by the knowledge it would soon be treasured in their memories.

Everything would be alright, he was sure of it. He got out his mobile phone and dialled the number on the bottom of the letter. He was out through straight to Lazar.

He smiled at his friends, and said simply, "When do I start?"

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading. If you'd take a moment or two to leave a review, I'd really appreciate it.<p>

See you guys next chapter~ C:


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys~ C:

Sorry this chapter took a little longer than I promised (and is a bit longer than the rough 4,500 words I've been keeping the chapters to), I had the problem of realising I needed to create some co-workers for Yuusei. So yes, I have made five new OCs specifically for this story; I haven't used them before and I probably won't use them outside of this fic. Though I do love them just a little bit. I enjoyed creating them far too much OTL

Regarding OCs: I usually don't like seeing OCs in a fanfiction, due to the propensity for them to be author-inserts or Mary Sues / Gary Stues. But these ones are not like that at all, they are just co-workers. If, like me, you're usually hesitant about OCs in fanfics, rest assured they aren't going to be intrusive or poke their noses in the Synchroshipping that /will/ happen in later chapters (I haven't forgotten about that, don't worry). You trust me, right? C:

Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. More soon.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds & DM (c) Kazuki Takahashi

* * *

><p>The rest of the week passed quickly, and the three friends spent as much time together as they could. Although they all told each other nothing would really change with their going separate ways, no one wanted to say that things <em>would<em> in fact change. So instead of brooding over being split apart again, though this time by their own volition and not the machinations of Rex Goodwin, they spent the week going around the Satellite and Neo Domino city, duelling each other and reminiscing over all the things they had achieved.

Atem did not mind that he was largely left out of these activities; Yuusei had offered every time they were going out somewhere to take him along. But he knew that this was not his time to spend with them. The three of them had grown up together, they were very close. Besides, the only safe way he could accompany them would be if they either went by bus or if Crow gave him his leathers. And that would have rather defeated the point, seeing as Crow wanted to spend time with Yuusei and Jack as well.

So while they were spending time together, Atem busied himself walking around Neo Domino, not too far from the warehouse at first so he wouldn't become lost, familiarising himself with the city and the people. The more he went on his walks the less alien he felt there, more settled. He seldom talked to people, but observed everything. There was no question that everything had changed from when he had known, but it was not vastly different at closer glance.

There was still a strong trend for duelling, with many people on the streets casually chatting and duelling, and along the main streets he lost track of the number of duelling shops selling cards, and the number of garages advertising their high-spec ranges of motorcycles that could be adapted to make Duel Runners.

He was also amused to see flyers and books being advertised with the faces of Team 5Ds, proclaiming to be biographies of the duelling tournament and offering all sorts of explanations for the city that had appeared in the sky. From what Yuusei had told him of the event, some of the explanations were shockingly close to the truth, though largely regarded as fear-mongering; apparently the main message the Mayor wanted to promote was that it was just something that had happened, please forget about it, while he assembled a team to try and fix the problem.

A few people pointed and talked behind their hands as he passed, asking each other where they recognised him. He didn't look their way or acknowledge the few stares and merely went on his way; they soon assumed they had thought wrong and he drew little attention. He politely dodged the people in sandwich-board outfits in the city centre trying to get him to answer questionnaires or buy things.

As he was making his way back towards the workshop place where Yuusei and Crow lived – Jack had moved his few possessions into a box or two and asked them to keep them safe for when he returned – he kept his eyes open for signs for vacancies. He was acutely aware of the clothes on his back paid for by Yuusei, and he still felt uncomfortable about his charity. He wanted to pay him back as soon as possible, especially considering that his new job would mean he would need to travel more often in a commute, and Atem assumed that motorcycle fuel was expensive these days. As well as the fact neither Yuusei nor his friends were very wealthy anyway; apparently Jack had been wealthy when he was the King of Riding Duels, but the money he had saved up then had been largely spent on bicycle parts and on food when they were running low.

Close to the workshop, Atem noticed a coffee shop with a 'Job Vacancy, Please Apply Within' sign in the window. He went up to a waitress cleaning up the tables outside.

"Excuse me," He said politely to get her attention. "Is that position filled yet?" He nodded to the sign.

She looked him briefly up and down, assessing him, and he smiled slightly at her. "I'll have to ask the manager," She said, tucking some hair behind her ear, "But I think it's still available."

"Would it be too much to take me to him?" Atem asked. "I'm looking for a job."

"Sure, come with me," She smiled. "My name's Stephanie, by the way."

"Atem, nice to meet you," He replied and followed her into the café and up some backstairs to what he presumed would be the manager's office. "Has the position been open long?"

"No, not really," She said, stopping with him outside the door. "We've been having trouble coping with the midday rush since that city thing in the sky went away – people want to enjoy themselves, live a little after everything almost ended. It would be good to have some help. But this is his office, good luck."

Atem nodded thanks, straightened his shirt and smoothed his hair back into something a little less conspicuous, and knocked on the door.

An hour later he was shaking the man's hand and agreeing to start work the next day. On his way out he gave Stephanie a little wave.

"Hey, how did you do?" She asked.

"He said you can take the sign out of the window," he smiled back at her. "And I'll be seeing you tomorrow at eight thirty."

She congratulated him and said she looked forward to him working there. He headed back to the workshop with a confident smile and a little more bounce in his step.

He went inside expecting no one to be there, but it seemed that during his meeting with the manager of the Blue Eyes Café, Yuusei and his two friends had arrived back from their ride around the city. They waved up at him as he entered, dismounting from their bikes and taking their helmets off.

"So I guess I'll be off later," Jack said casually. There was a momentary tension in the room, but then Yuusei and Crow smiled and agreed. They would all have dinner together and then Jack would be off on his travels. They put together some money to buy food and Crow left to buy something.

"So what were you up to today, Atem?" Yuusei asked, shaking his hair out of its helmet mould. "We didn't think you'd be out when we came back."

"I was exploring the city," Atem smiled. "And I found a job. It's not much, but it's something. I should be able to pay you back for the clothes soon."

"That's great!" Yuusei grinned. "What's the job?"

"The café just a few streets over, the Blue Eyes one," Atem said. "I'm going to be a barista, or something. Waiting tables and making coffee, I gather."

"I did some work there once," Jack said grandly, and Yuusei made a coughing noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Jack glared at him. "What? It was work."

"They chucked you out after two hours," Yuusei reminded him with a grin. "You were terrible."

"The fact remains that I worked there," Jack sniffed, folding his arms. "You should have better luck than me though, Atem."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Yuusei laughed. "You were fired because you couldn't follow orders."

Jack waved a hand dismissively. "They don't know how to make good coffee properly."

"I think you'll find your opinion of 'good coffee' isn't shared by most people, Jack. Most people like to be able to taste their drink without it being so bitter they choke."

"People are too dependent on sugar and cream," Jack announced. "The coffee tastes better without it."

Yuusei shook his head as if he couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "As you please, Jack," He chuckled, and went into the kitchen to get a drink.

When he was gone, Jack looked down at Atem with a serious look, the playfully offended manner he had affected a moment before gone like a mask. Atem blinked in surprise at the change.

"I'm not going to be coy here," Jack said in a low voice. "I know that you want Yuusei. If you hurt him…" He tailed off warningly.

"I wouldn't want to, or care to," Atem replied in the same serious, quiet tone. "You have my word."

Jack looked at him for a moment, Atem having to crane his neck to meet Jack's eyes, then nodded slowly. "Good." He hesitated and glanced at the kitchen. "Look after him. He's never as happy as he looks on the outside."

"You have my word, Jack," Atem said again. Jack nodded again, and whacked him on the back in some kind of brotherly recognition. Or something. Atem winced and patted him on the arm in return, trying not to fall over from the force of the blow.

Jack smiled, obviously pleased with himself, and went upstairs to make sure he had all the things he was taking with him packed and ready to be bundled onto the back of Phoenix Whirlwind – who had been quickly fixed and tuned up as a going-away present from Yuusei.

The dinner passed quickly in a not-quite-remembered fugue of jokes, laughter and good food. Before any of them really realised, they were standing by Jack's motorcycle as he slotted his small bags into compartments under the seat.

"Well then," Jack said quietly, looking at his leaving committee. It was just them; the twins had not been able to get away from school and Akiza hadn't answered the messages they left on her answerphone. Mina and Ushio had apologised but they were both on shift tonight and couldn't get away.

Jack stood opposite Crow and the two friends surveyed each other, Jack standing with his hands on his hips and Crow with his arms folded defensively. After a few minutes Jack simply tousled Crow's hair and Crow punched his shoulder, smiling a little. Nothing else needed to be said. Jack moved to stand opposite Atem and they shook hands firmly. Atem nodded to him seriously and Jack looked pleased.

Crow, with a long look at Jack and Yuusei, pulled Atem into the kitchen to give them some privacy.

Yuusei and Jack looked at each other for a long moment, then Yuusei reached up and gently ran his hand through Jack's hair, coming to rest on his cheek. Jack smiled and leant down a little.

"Be careful," Yuusei warned him. "Don't let your pride make silly mistakes. And call every so often, or send us a letter or something."

"Yes, Yuusei," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "And don't let yourself get so sucked into this new job that you forget to go home each night. You hear me?"

"I hear you, Jack," Yuusei smiled, stroking his cheek. Jack turned his head and gently kissed Yuusei's palm, closing his eyes briefly. Yuusei felt that pain in his chest again at the gesture. This wasn't the last time they would see each other, he thought to himself firmly, and the pain passed.

Jack mounted his Duel Runner and called into the kitchen, "Hey, I'm off! See you around!" And sped off before Crow and Atem could come back inside. Yuusei shook his head with a smile. That was Jack, alright. He gently closed the doors behind Jack.

The next morning, Yuusei woke up earlier than usual and got himself ready, packing a change of smart clothes into a bag which he stowed carefully under his motorcycle seat. After a quick breakfast and a hurried shower, he mounted his Duel Runner and sped into the central district of Ne Domino, heading for the grandest building there.

He was starting work today.

He managed to convince the security guard that he was starting work that day and, after some tense minutes where the guard checked over the paperwork and apologised for his error before letting Yuusei through, wishing him a good first day. Yuusei was a little surprised by how friendly the man was, but it helped set his mind more at ease. He was rather anxious about making a first impression.

He parked in the spot allocated to him by the guard and followed his directions to some lockers and a bathroom where he could change into a smart outfit more appropriate for the workplace than his usual duelling gear.

He had tried to do some research on the project, but Lazar had refused to answer any of his questions until he came in, and naturally the project was not being advertised on the internet, in such an early stage. So he really wasn't sure what this job was going to entail, which he didn't think was an auspicious start to say the least.

He stowed his biking gear and casual clothes in an unoccupied locker and took the lift up to the main floor.

"Er, good morning," He said with a quick smile to the yawning receptionist there. "I'm starting new today, I don't quite know where to go. Could you help me?"

"Oh, of course," She replied sleepily. She took his details with the detached air of someone too tired to realise what they are really doing. As such Yuusei didn't have to deal with the exclamations he was getting used to receiving; squeals of joy and breathless fans saying how they loved his duelling and would do anything for any tips if he had them. It was a bit of a relief not to have to deal with that on his first day. Yet, anyway.

She gave him directions to the floor and office he was sectioned to, and advised him to see his team leader before doing anything. He thanked her and wished her a pleasant day, heading to the lift again.

It was only as he was stepping into the lift that she seemed to realise who he was. She stood up from the desk with her mouth open and eyes wide, saying, "Yuusei Fudo!" Like she couldn't believe her eyes. He smiled and gave her a small wave as the doors closed.

When he got to his floor he looked around curiously; the architecture of the place was very grand, though the offices branching off the corridors seemed rather personalised and chaotic according to whoever was in them, from what he could see through the open doors. Only a few other people were in the office, and Yuusei knew he was early. From what Lazar had hinted at, the team was going to be big enough to fill all the offices. He found his office, a new and slightly bleak room with a desk, computer and plenty of wall space and an empty filing cabinet. Yuusei sat in his chair for a moment, trying to get familiar with the room.

That was obviously fruitless, the room had less soul than fresh concrete without even any handprints or slogans scrawled into it.

So he closed the door behind himself, memorising the number on the door (they hadn't gotten around to giving him a nameplate yet, apparently) and went in search of his team manager. He found the man in the office at the end of the hallway with the simple name plate reading 'Blake – Boss'. Yuusei knocked on his door and was told to enter.

He did so and smiled nervously at the man sitting at the desk with his feet up on the desk, papers played around him as he tapped into a hand-held computer. His hair was dark brown with some grey at the temples and tied back into a messily-tied tail. He had that slightly odd look of someone who doesn't much care what they look like as long as they can work, accented by a zany black and yellow jumper fraying slightly at the seams. His shirt collar was half tucked into his jumper and his shoes were simple running shoes, clearly comfortable. There was a lab-coat tossed over a stack of books as if that was its permanent home and finger-painted drawings of young children on the walls, as well as a few family pictures.

The man looked up at him and grinned, swinging his long legs off the desk – sending some papers and a stack of books flying across the room as he did so – and stood. He extended his hand and firmly pumped Yuusei's arm.

"Welcome, welcome! You must be our new recruit. Yuusei, isn't it?" he said with a vaguely affected air; it was obvious he knew exactly who Yuusei was, despite his dissembling. "Welcome on board. Glad to see you found us okay. I'm Blake, and Im the team leader. Any questions or problems, come to me."

"It's good to meet you, sir," Yuusei ventured, smiling again briefly.

"Pah, none of that. I won't have any silly formalities in my team. First names only. We're all equal here. So call me Blake."

"Alright," Yuusei said amiably. "Sorry if this seems kind of forward, but I don't really know what my place on this project is going to be. I was kinda drafted in, and I wasn't given much information…"

"Oh, I see," Blake said, gesturing for him to sit down and surveying him from there. "I didn't much appreciate the Mayor going over my head and recruiting people to _my_ team without my say-so, which he promised would be under my lone control. But that's not your fault. Ahem, let me see. On this project we're trying to develop a new source of energy for Neo Domino. As I'm sure you know, the reactor your father built was not perfect. And with the Divine Temple… well. We need something to avoid that."

Yuusei had started slightly at the mention of his father; it was commonly known what role his father had played in creating the Ener-D reactor and Zero Reverse, but it usually wasn't mentioned. Zero Reverse was still a sore subject in some areas, especially in the Satellite. And it was obvious from just the tracker on his cheek that Yuusei had grown up in the Satellite. Blake noticed and smiled briefly at him.

"Yes, I'm very familiar with Doctor Fudo's work. Oh no, I never knew him personally, but I followed his research. The same field, you know. But anyway. To avoid the disaster of the Divine Temple happening in the future – yes, we've all been fully briefed on exactly what happened up there – we need to create a new energy. So I was enlisted, you might say, to put together a crack team of sorts to try and come up with this solution. Currently, there's myself and four others, not including you. My specialty is particle physics, and we have another physicist on the team, Farah. A mechanic called Tinker, and two programmers; Amelia and Rueben. The team works well, even if it's a little dysfunctional at times. And then there's you."

Blake paused thoughtfully, looking Yuusei over.

"I'd like to make this clear right now," Blake said. "If I had my way, I would not have hired you. Not because I dislike you – you've done a great deal for the city, and everyone knows of your duelling abilities. But you have too much celebrity about you. The public are not supposed to know about this project until something comes of fruition. Having you on the team could risk exposing it, leaking its secrets to another team or someone less benign than ourselves. History is littered with examples of people trying to develop something to help mankind, and their research being hijacked for the wrong reasons. I would like to avoid that." He said dryly.

Yuusei nodded thoughtfully. "Is it that you think I can't keep a secret?"

"No, not that," Blake said, seemingly pleased by his calmness. "It's common knowledge a reporter, Carly Carmine, has been following yourself and Jack Atlas for some time now. I've no doubt she's not the only one. If the press gets their hands on this research…"

"Ah," Yuusei said, smiling quickly. "I see. But you have the decision whether to keep me on the team or to fire me right now, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. And I won't fire you, because of what you could bring to the team. I've researched you, if you'll pardon the phrase, and found some rather interesting things. They seem more rumour than fact, however. Is it true you built Phoenix Whirlwind when you were sixteen, alone, in the Satellite?"

"Yes," Yuusei said, sitting a little straighter. "It was illegal at the time, but I'm willing to admit that. It was one of my better accomplishments."

"I see. And that you built your current Duel Runner a little later, alone and with only the Satellite's poor quality materials?"

Yuusei nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Hmm. And is it also true that you and another man, called Antinomy I believe, created a whole new engine system for the WRGP? From scratch?"

Yuusei winced a little. "His name was Bruno. But yes, that's true. If I might ask, why are you asking me all this?"

"Hm, I see. I thought those were only rumours bandied about the duelling circuit to make Team 5Ds seem more glamorous. Apparently not. Well, Yuusei, it shows you have great ingenuity, and have the very skills we are looking for. You understand the physics of the Ener-D engine enough to build not only one, but two fully functional and tournament-winning Duel Runners, of better working quality than many companies. You managed to do this with the castoffs of society, and I believe you were once overheard to say that coat hangers can act as good conductors."

"Well, they do. They have little resistance, but if you get the right type they can still carry a significant current without bleeding excess heat and energy." Yuusei said automatically. Blake grinned and leaned forwards.

"Most people know you only for your duelling. Which, even I have to admit, is spectacular. But you're not like many of the well-known duellists – most of them have only the knowledge necessary to ride their Duel Runners. They don't know how they work, and don't bother to find out. But you are a _mechanic_, an _engineer_. You're a _programmer_ too. You're versatile and can find solutions to problems where others can't. Those are exactly the sorts of skills this team has been based around. And I suppose you have a good idea of what we're up against, seeing as you duelled that Z-One character," Blake added.

Yuusei smiled and looked down at his hands bashfully. When said like that, he supposed he was pretty unique among duellists. And, well, he was always interested in fixing things, even in Martha's orphanage. He could feel his cheeks burning.

"So you're to stay on the team and prove you can use those skills for something other than making motorcycles," Blake said with a shirt laugh, getting up from behind his desk and striding quickly to the door. Yuusei scrambled to follow.

"Come along, let's meet the others. I've told them you're joining the team, but I know Rueben in particular is a bit of a fan, so… thought I'd warn you." Blake shrugged. "They should all be here, though. Ah, speaking of them! Halloo there, Farah!" He called, waving enthusiastically at a tall woman unlocking an office door a little down the corridor. She turned and smiled tolerantly at Blake and looked Yuusei up and down as they approached.

"Morning, Blake. Oh, so the Satellite celebrity is starting today," She said, her eyes lingering on the yellow brand on Yuusei's cheek, her lip curling in disgust.

_So, there's still some prejudice about Satellites going around. Wonderful, _Yuusei thought.

Blake frowned at her. "Now be civil, Farah. Yuusei is here to work, and you know how I feel about your attitude."

"Yes, yes. Whatever." She said dismissively, flicking her hair over her shoulder. It was just over shoulder length and seemed too bright a blonde to be natural.

She wore a smart trouser suit in heels, making her even taller than she was, and the lab-coat she wore was spotless and seemed ironed. She had a narrow face, with thick rimmed, white rectangular glasses that she looked over the top of to survey Yuusei. Her whole bearing gave the impression of immaculate care and precision. Yuusei remembered Blake saying she was another physicist, and wondered if she applied to same technical skill to her work as she did her makeup and outfit. She must, to be a part of this team.

"It's good to meet you," Yuusei said pleasantly, extending a hand. She looked at it as if he had just sneezed in it and was carrying the plague. After a long moment, Yuusei let his hand fall. "I look forward to working with you," He said in the same polite tone, and Farah sniffed derisively and stalked into her office, slamming the door.

Blake scowled at the closed door and guided Yuusei away. "I'm sorry about that. She'll get over herself soon, don't worry."

"It's alright," Yuusei said with a forced smile. "I've come across her attitude before. I suppose I am branded as a criminal," He said, tapping his yellow marks.

"Though anyone who's bothered to read up on you would know it was a petty offence, coming into the city." Blake shook his head. "Though you're not the only one on the team who was in the Facility. Let's go find Tinker, see what you make of him."

They went on a winding route through several more corridors until they came to what looked like a garage somehow crammed into an office block. There were tools and equipment hung up on walls, and pieces of metal stacked into piles. There were obscurely bent pieces of all different types of metal on every surface, and a thin layer of grime and soot seemed to cover everything. Yuusei admired the tools; these were professional ones, much better than the ones he was used to improvising with. Blake tapped him on the shoulder and cocked his ear. The hissing, grinding sound of welding from one corner flying gave them a clue as to where Tinker was.

The man was standing at a workbench, welding two pieces of metal together to form something looking like a miniature collider, about five feet in diameter. They waited until he was done before Blake spoke.

"Morning, Tinker. Meet Yuusei, he's starting today."

"Oh is he?" Tinker replied, taking off the protective face mask and looking Yuusei over. He was bald and pale, the same height as Yuusei, and looked distinctly scruffy and just a little underfed. He had the typical look of a Satellite as well; suspicious around the eyes, economical with his movements and quick, assessing glances. Yuusei noticed he had a yellow semicircle on his right cheek, like a sun rising into his eye. "That's nice. Can I get back to work now?"

Rather than being put off by Tinker's attitude, Yuusei found himself smiling. It was nice to be really treated as an equal.

"I guess I'll be working with you from time to time, Tinker." Yuusei said, putting his hand out palm-up. Tinker only hesitated a moment before slapping his own palm down in an old-style Satellite greeting. "Your place is amazing; I've never seen so many tools in one place before."

Tinker instantly became friendlier and took Yuusei on a brief tour of his workshop, pointing out the tools and even giving a few demonstrations. His indifference towards Yuusei softened slightly when they talked about the tools and his work, and Yuusei asked to use a few of them on some scrap metal. He seemed more impressed that Yuusei was willing to roll up his sleeves and risk dirtying his fresh shirt just to handle some welding equipment than by anything else.

"I'd hate to tear you two lovebirds apart," Blake said with a grin as Yuusei started. "But I need to show you around the rest of the place, Yuusei."

"Oh, right, of course," Yuusei said sheepishly. "See you around, Tinker." They slapped palms again and Tinker went back to his work with a slight smile.

Yuusei was introduced to the two programmers, who were having a heated but polite debate over which code would be better in a room filled with computers and posters of hand-scrawled notes plastered over the walls. When Blake brought Yuusei in, the tall lanky man with floppy red hair went abruptly silent and stared wide-eyed at Yuusei, the same way the receptionist had. The woman, short with a bob of natural blonde hair, nodded politely to him.

"This is Yuusei, he's starting today. He'll be moving around between Tinker's shop and your programming suite. Yuusei, these lovely people are Rueben and Amelia."

Yuusei shook their hands and smiled at them. Rueben blushed and stammered a 'hello' while staring avidly at Yuusei's face. Amelia smiled and shyly welcomed him to the team.

"Now Rueben, don't be weird. You're going to be colleagues, after all." Blake said. Rueben blushed harder and tossed his head to try and get his hair out of his face.

"I-I won't be," he stammered. Amelia smiled fondly and patted Rueben on the arm, which only made him blush harder.

The rest of the day passed very quickly indeed as Yuusei was brought up to speed on where the project was at the moment, and what advances they had made. At first he was hesitant to chime in with his suggestions, not wanting to be seen to butt into their work, but after a little while he forgot to be nervous and was just himself. He didn't notice the time passing as he talked with Amelia and Rueben about the computer simulations they had been running and hypothetical engine designs, nor when he was chatting with Tinker about the miniatures he had been making to test out the current theories. He tried to talk to Farah but when she deigned to speak to him she did so condescendingly, as if a mere Satellite wouldn't understand what she was talking about. He found it more useful to talk to Blake about the particle theories they were investigating.

Blake seemed pleased that he was fitting into the team, and even more pleased when he helped Rueben fix a bug in a simulation. Yuusei had the feeling doing this for Rueben had earned him eternal glory in the young man's eyes, though he already idolised Yuusei for his duelling.

Rueben even accompanied him down to the parking garage and stood outside the bathroom door as Yuusei changed back into his riding leathers, chattering away enthusiastically about the programs he and Amelia were designing and switching between technical details to gushing over Yuusei's duels with such speed Yuusei had a little trouble keeping up.

"Yeah, we'll get to work on that tomorrow," Yuusei promised with a smile, standing beside his cycle and putting his helmet on. "It's been great talking with you, Rueben, really. But I have to get home…"

"Oh! Right, sorry! I-I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Bright and early," Yuusei chuckled, and with a wave he sped out of the garage and headed home, smiling all the way. Aside from Farah, he was getting along pretty well with his co-workers, and the project itself seemed very interesting.

As he arrived back he blinked in surprise at the sigh awaiting him: Atem was wearing an apron over his clothes and, with an expression of great concentration, was serving Crow dinner one-handed in the manner of a waiter, who looked mightily amused. They both looked up as Yuusei dismounted from his motorcycle.

"Atem, what _are_ you doing?" Yuusei grinned, walking over.

"I am practising," Atem said seriously. "I almost dropped someone's coffee on them today. And on my first day!" He looked mortified by the very memory. "So I am practising."

"Oh right," Yuusei said, feeling a little guilty for forgetting Atem had started work today as well. "Good day otherwise, you two?"

They nodded assent and eagerly listened as he described his first day, Crow pulling a face as Yuusei mentioned Farah's attitude. Later that evening, Yuusei went to sleep with a smile, exhausted but looking forward to the next day and the challenges he would face. Winning over Farah was going to take some time, he knew, but otherwise he was pleased to have taken the job. He couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

><p>So yes, hope you enjoyed reading that. What do you think of the co-workers? I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know what you think, and how much you'd like to see them in later chapters. They're going to be a part of the story, but how much of a part they will play is still being decided in my head, and I don't want to shove them in everywhere if you guys hate their guts. Feedback is greatly appreciated, whether in reviews or in PMs. I don't bite, honest. C:<p>

See you next chapter~


	5. Chapter 5

More~

So yes, this chapter is more about getting back towards Synchroshipping, which I hope you guys will be happy to hear. C:

Enjoy, things are gonna start happening real soon, trust me~

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds & DM (c) Kazuki Takahashi

* * *

><p>In no time at all, Yuusei became absorbed into his new work. He woke up early each morning and raced into work, jovially greeting the security guard who had been so helpful on his first day and the receptionist, who seemed to be under orders from Blake not to get too excited about the fact Yuusei was working there now. Instead of gushing, she acted overly polite and familiar, as if he were an employee she had seen every day for years. It wasn't much more tactful than her wide-eyed staring, but Yuusei appreciated the gesture.<p>

He alternated his days between burying himself either in the wonders of Tinker's workshop or the wonders of the programming suite. Rueben seemed to be getting better and handling his star-struck awe and even though Farah was unpleasant and cold if not rude to him whenever she saw him, otherwise things were going smoothly.

At the start of each day when everyone was in the office, Blake would hold a meeting in the small kitchenette area attached to their offices where they would outline what work they were all involved in currently and the progress they had made on it. Occasionally he would tell them to go in a different direction, or Farah would come up with an idea that they would then either try and explore or laboriously explain that it simply wasn't possible. Then they would all go back to work in their areas, emerging sporadically for food and toilet breaks, until the end of the day and they all clocked off. Typically Yuusei and Rueben were the last to leave each night.

In the meetings, Yuusei observed what Blake had called the 'dysfunctional' dynamic of the group. Farah seemed to be a dominating presence in that she viewed information she could not understand – like Rueben and Amelia's knowledge of coding and programming – to be inferior to her own areas of expertise, and promptly ignored their input unless it was necessary. She seemed to group Yuusei and Tinker into a group of combined derision and disgust, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was because of their Satellite origins, and their history in the Facility. Only Blake was able to intercede and make her reasonable.

In fact, the more Yuusei observed of the group the more he came to see that Farah was the only one causing problems. Occasionally Tinker and Rueben clashed; Tinker's sometimes abrasive personality did not sit well with the quiet programmer. But it was never anything serious, and Amelia could usually calm things down with a few simple words. But Farah brushed everyone up the wrong way except for Blake, who seemed to have some sort of understanding that made him patient with her when even Yuusei was tempted to throw things at her for her careless words.

Two weeks after Yuusei's inclusion in the group, she became downright poisonous.

"Honestly, can't you do anything right?" She demanded of Rueben at the morning meeting. "I told you specifically to test for _this_ particle, you see this diagram?" She pointed at an obscure map, scowling. "You must be a cretin if you ran it to test for another one. Blake, I'm working with imbeciles!" She declared, throwing the paper to the table and her hands into the air.

Rueben inched further down into his chair, looking on the verge of tears.

"There's no need to be rude, Farah," Yuusei said before he could remind himself that conversations with her were pointless. He forged ahead anyway. "He made a simple mistake in running the wrong simulation, but I was there when you explained it. The plan you came up with to find out if it behaved that way was impractical; Rueben, myself and Amelia thought that to follow your instructions we had to construct a different simulation, and did so. You need to explain your ideas more clearly, Farah."

His politely-said speech was met with a sneer from her and tense silence from the others.

"Oh be quiet. Like you actually understood a word of what I said."

Yuusei could feel white-hot rage building inside of him but let none of it show on his face. He was sick of being talked down to for the mark on his face. "I did understand it, actually." He said calmly. "I understood it far better than you yourself did."

She made a scoffing noise. With an implacable determination Yuusei took the hand-held computer from Rueben and quickly opened up the simulation, then shoved it towards Farah. "Go on," he said, meeting her eyes squarely. "Run the simulation Rueben programmed just for you. Tell me it's not designed well."

He kept his gaze fixed on her face as she tried to access it. She couldn't even get it to start, and her cheeks began to burn with humiliation and rage. After several uncomfortable minutes she slammed the computer shut and snarled, "I don't need to know how it works, all you have to do is make my ideas possible! I'm the brains of this 'team'! Impertinent Satellite scum!"

Yuusei and Tinker were immediately on their feet. Tinker was ready to hit her but Rueben and Blake seized him by the arms. Blake was too busy trying to stop Tinker punching her in the face to try and shut Farah's mouth.

Farah sneered at the two of them ready to fight. Yuusei barely registered the fact his hands were balled into fists and he was trembling with the strain of holding himself back. He had been trodden on all his life for being from the Satellite, and he was sick of this self-important woman.

"Look at you. No better than savages. Is fighting your only option, gentlemen?" She sneered, ignoring Amelia's nervous attempts to get her to be quiet.

"I'd like to see you last a day on the Satellite streets!" Tinker shouted, red in the face.

"Tinker," Yuusei said with barely-controlled fury, turning to him. "She's not worth it. Come on. Let's go."

He had managed to half-drag Tinker out of the room before something nasty happened when he heard Farah say derisively, "What a coward the great Yuusei Fudo is, running away. Just like his father."

"My father," Yuusei said in an icily cold voice, just loud enough to silence everyone in the room, with his back turned to Farah and his fists clenched, "Was a great man and never ran from anything. I'd thank you not to profane his memory."

He walked slowly and calmly away, placing each foot with deliberate precision while he tried to calm the rage boiling in his blood. He knew if he didn't walk away he would do something he really regretted, like let Tinker hit her or scream in her face. Tinker walked with him and they slowly went back to his workshop, where they buried themselves in separate projects, working out their anger or trying to forget it by the simple acts of creating intricate pieces of metalwork with their hands alone.

An hour or so later Blake cautiously poked his head around the door and came up to them. He apologised profusely to both of them, said that he had threatened to cut Farah from the team if she wasn't at least civil to her co-workers. That had shut her up, apparently.

Tinker sniffed and said he wanted an official apology from her. Yuusei stayed quiet and looked down at what he was doing, noticing what his hands had been doing for the first time; his mind had been in a rage. He had crafted a miniature Duel Runner from wire and thin pieces of metal.

"You'll still both stay on the team, right?" Blake said, slightly nervously. "We need you both."

Tinker harrumphed and grudgingly said he'd stay. Yuusei looked down at the wire figurine and stood it on the bench. "The project's too important to let one bigoted woman stand in the way of it," He said after a few moments, calmly. "But what precisely _is_ her problem?"

Blake looked greatly relieved and shrugged in answer to Yuusei's question. "I don't know exactly. But she was raised in the richer parts of the city, comes from a wealthy family. You know the type."

Yuusei couldn't help but think Akiza and the twins weren't nearly as bad as Farah, but kept that to himself.

"She needs to wake up and live in the real world," Yuusei said firmly. "I'm sick of people like her." He absently twisted some more wire into the design, making the seat with careful precision. Blake looked at the model with interest, looking up at Yuusei with new respect as he inspected it.

"This is very good, you know."

"Do you want to keep it?" Yuusei asked, feeling tired. "It's just about finished. I only made it from scrap, but if you like it…" He shrugged.

"Thanks, Yuusei," Blake said, a little surprised, and slipped it onto his pocket. "Oh yes, Amelia said she needs a bit of help with the next level of simulation; she and Rueben can't quite crack a glitch in it."

Yuusei waved to Tinker, who had been methodically hammering a bent piece of metal into a different shape, and followed Blake back to the programming suite. It was oddly soothing to bury his mind in numbers and codes, feeling his way through a system and seeing where the cracks were. It was as if his entire mind was in the screen and he didn't have to contend with the anger that still pulsed under his skin at Farah's attitude.

"There," He said wearily hours later, stretching his arms and hearing the ligaments crack. "There's your glitch."

He looked around and saw Amelia and Rueben were staring at him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"You're so fast," Amelia said. "On the keyboard, I mean. Me and Rueben were here for hours yesterday scanning through the coding and we didn't get even half way through. You just went through everything in the program in a couple of hours."

Yuusei shrugged and turned back to the screen, uncomfortable. "See here, you need to reorder these commands. At the minute they're coding for a different rotation, and the wrong feedback loop." With a few quick keystrokes he had rewritten the program. "Fixed."

Rueben fetched him a coffee as they started up the simulation, watching it with tired smiles as it ran perfectly, just as they had wanted. Yuusei held the coffee cup but didn't drink, tapping it slightly as he thought.

The other programmers looked at him expectantly for his thoughts, but all he could think was that he should check on Atem. He had been neglecting him recently. He hoped he was settled into his job at the café; lately Yuusei had been staying at work until late at night, and he hadn't seen Atem of Crow for more than a couple of minutes for days. Rather against Jack's advice, he remembered guiltily.

He realised with a start that Rueben and Amelia had been patiently waiting for him to speak for quite some time.

"Sorry," He said, voice rusty from being silent at the computer for so long, with a lopsided smile. "Spaced out a bit there. Anyway, I reckon we should show Blake tomorrow. It seems good. If he thinks it's alright, we should start making a prototype, test this out."

They eagerly agreed, and started opening up other simulations for different ideas on the project.

Yuusei excused himself and asked Blake if it would be alright to go home, who nodded assent. "I don't blame you," the man said, glancing pointedly down the corridor to Farah's office. "But come with me a moment before you go."

Yuusei couldn't help but think this was a bad idea as Blake led him into Farah's office. All around the space were pictures of Farah shaking hands with people he assumed must be important; pictures of Farah graduating; pictures of someone he thought must be her brother at similar events; certificates of her degrees hung up on the walls. There were many shelves filled with multiple copies of books authored by Farah from the look of it. Everything was neat and orderly, in its own specific place.

Farah herself was sitting at her desk, referring to her own books and some obscure computer readouts and diagrams as she scribbled furiously into a notepad, transferring her notes onto a hand-held computer with her other hand in an astonishing display of multitasking.

She looked up at the intrusion and scowled when she saw Yuusei was there as well as Blake. "What?" She said rudely.

"Enough, Farah," Blake said calmly but firmly, with the determination of a father scolding his child. "I've had enough of your attitude. You are here as part of a _team_, and you would do well to remember that. Not to mention being more civil to your co-workers."

She set her jaw, eyes flinty. Yuusei doubted Blake's words were having any effect on the stubborn, wilful woman, and Blake seemed to realise it as well.

He sighed impatiently. "Farah, okay, tell me why you object to Yuusei being on our team. Yes, I know he's here. Just say it to his face; it'll save time in the long run."

She seemed to struggle with the answer. "He's s celebrity. He's not committed to the project. He thinks he's so superior to everyone here, like he's some sort of genius who knows all of our jobs better than we do. He's a criminal from the Satellite – you can see that tracker mark as well as I can, Blake! If he weren't such a _celebrity_ he'd be put in prison for his crimes! It's not right, having Satellites on a project like this!"

A tense silence followed her words.

"So your main objection to me and Tinker is that we grew up in a different part of the city to you," Yuusei said coldly after a few moments. "Is that right? That we were poorer than you, had to scrounge to feed ourselves each day while the finest food dropped into your lap? That our upbringing makes us more resourceful? That our very poorness adapted us to find solutions where you can't? Is that right?"

"You're criminals, both of you," Farah shot back, avoiding his questions. "It's plain to see. You don't even try to hide it, like you're proud of breaking the law."

"We served our time," Yuusei replied quietly. "We paid for our crimes – which were a flimsy bending of the law, anyway. Rex Goodwin wanted me away from Jack, so he lured me into breaking the law. That's by no means just. All Tinker was imprisoned for was building things from the scraps of others. Because it was illegal for someone, due to an accident of birth, to handle something a city-person like you had touched. Sector Security said he stole those parts, when he actually dug through trash heaps for them. That's not stealing."

"Where's your argument, Farah?" Blake put in with raised eyebrows. "You need to grow up. Satellites are part of the city now, get used to it. And for your information, Yuusei just made _this_." He pulled out the miniature Duel Runner and despite herself Farah leaned forward to inspect it. "Instead of getting angry at you, he made this. Hardly the actions of someone who relies on violence."

"Are we done here?" Yuusei asked, feeling a headache coming on.

"Just one more thing. Farah, apologise to Yuusei and Tinker. Right now."

She scowled at them both and stood up. "Fine. Yuusei, I apologise for the things I said. Good enough?"

In answer Yuusei extended his hand. After a moment she clasped his hand and shook it quickly, seemingly taken aback by the strength in his hand.

"Good enough," Blake said. "I don't expect you three to become best friends overnight, but Farah I expect you to leave your prejudices at the door tomorrow. Be professional. Heaven knows Tinker and Yuusei have shown you enough courtesy; it's high time you showed some too."

She nodded curtly and Blake led Yuusei out before she ruined her hard work at attempting to be civil. Yuusei noticed her wipe her hand on her leg out of the corner of his eye as they left, but didn't mention it. It was good enough for now that she had waited until he was out the door first.

With Blake's blessing he left early; it was around mid-afternoon. Yuusei had planned to drive around Neo Domino to clear his head, but he found himself outside the Blue Eyes Café before he knew what had happened. He smiled as he dismounted, spotting Atem coming out to serve the customers sitting outside, a plate of cakes neatly balanced in one hand and a carafe of coffee in the other. It seemed he had mastered that talent after all.

Yuusei parked his Duel Runner and stowed his helmet before strolling casually into the café. Atem had his back turned to the counter as he was busy making cups of foamy coffee.

"I'll be with you in a moment," Atem called over his shoulder. Yuusei smiled and leaned his hip against the counter.

"That's fine, I can wait," He replied.

At the sound of his voice Atem turned around completely. "Yuusei!" He exclaimed, grinning. "I thought you were at work?"

Yuusei shrugged. "I got let off early. There was a bit of a spat, so my boss said I should take the rest of the day off."

"A spat?"

"A fight," Yuusei explained.

"Oh, I see," Atem said, skilfully pouring foamed milk into a large coffee cup and sprinkling cocoa powder on top. "I've got a break in about ten minutes, if you want to talk."

"That'd be great," Yuusei smiled. "In the meantime, I'll have a cappuccino and a muffin."

Atem laughed and told him to find a seat. A minute or two later Atem found him and placed the food and drink down, smiling. Yuusei chuckled and watched him as he bustled about the café, pouring coffee here and fetching napkins there. He certainly seemed to be fitting into his new job, and he even seemed to be reasonably good at it.

Yuusei exchanged nods with Stephanie, whom he vaguely recognised from his infrequent trips there to find Jack. As he watched Atem he felt that low burn under his skin, almost forgotten in the little time he had spent with Atem recently. He found himself admiring his strong arms as he held trays played on his fingers and the ease with which he carried himself, quietly confident. Atem looked busy and preoccupied, but there was still a hint of majesty in his gaze, in his bearing.

_Good,_ Yuusei thought. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was smiling as he watched Atem hurry around, and that his fingers were twitching with the urge to run them through Atem's strange hair.

He was surprised by the strength of his own feelings, and the reaction he was experiencing to just watching Atem. He realised he felt happier than he had at work, even with the challenges there to occupy him, simply watching Atem.

So to distract himself from dwelling on his attraction to the former pharaoh, he drank his cappuccino and ate his muffin, only as he was eating realising quite how hungry he was. He tried thinking back to having lunch, and could vaguely recall a cup of coffee and a biscuit. He resolved not to get so caught up in work again; Jack would not be pleased to hear of it, or how he had been staying late to finish things off with Rueben and Tinker lately.

Yuusei could see that some people in the café were eyeing him and whispering to each other, and he resigned himself to having to deal with his fans. Really, could he not just sit in a café and have something to eat without being plagued by them?

Luckily, before one small boy managed to wheedle his father into talking to Yuusei, Atem came over and sat down in the seat opposite him, laying his apron over a spare chair. "So, how's work?" Atem asked, offhandedly stealing a crumb of Yuusei's muffin.

Yuusei laughed at the theft and outlined the reasons for the fight without going into too much detail about his work; Atem knew what he was doing – he had been there when Lazar gave him the offer after all – but they weren't exactly in private. Atem nodded sympathetically as Yuusei finished, sipping his cappuccino.

"Well, it sounds like this Farah woman needs to get over herself," He said.

"Yeah. At the moment I'm just hoping she doesn't pick a fight like that again; Rueben and Amelia were all nervous around her afterwards, and I really don't want to have to deal with the tension between her and Tinker." Yuusei replied. "Personally I don't care what she thinks as long as it doesn't get in the way of work, but I get the feeling Tinker's had to have put up with worse than I've got for being a Satellite."

"She'll have to adapt if she's going to stay on the team. From what you've said it sounds like she's part of your work for the glory, not for – you know."

"Yeah. But enough about that; how're you doing? I've been so wrapped up in work we haven't really talked in a while."

"Pretty well," Atem smiled. "It's not bad work, and it pays. I should be able to repay you in a bit."

"That's great," Yuusei smiled. "There's no hurry on that front, though. I should be getting my first pay-packet this week. So you're liking Neo Domino?" Yuusei said carefully, trying to make it sound as if Atem was a tourist rather than a time-travelling pharaoh.

Atem's lips quirked at the evasion. "Yes, I think so. I feel more welcome here, now I'm working." He looked away for a moment before almost shyly saying, "I've been praying again."

"Is it helping?" Yuusei said seriously, leaning forwards slightly.

"It's a comfort," Atem said quietly, looking down at the table and absently sweeping the crumbs into his hand. "They haven't – you know. But it's something." He bit his lip, the easy confidence in his manner evaporating.

Without a second's hesitation Yuusei reached across and put his hands over Atem's. "They will reply," Yuusei said softly. "They will. Just have faith."

Atem smiled weakly, his eyes meeting Yuusei's for a brief second. "Thank you, Yuusei. I'll keep trying."

"Atem," Stephanie called from the counter, and Atem slid his hands slowly, almost regretfully, out from under Yuusei's. "Break's over, it's my turn."

"I'll be right there," Atem called back, and stood up, collecting Yuusei's dishes and stacking them on his arm. "Are you going to stay for a while?"

"Sure," Yuusei said. "When do you get off work?"

Atem checked a clock. "In an hour. Sure you want to wait that long?"

"It's no problem, and I don't really have anything else to do." Yuusei replied. "Besides, I think there's a boy over there who wants a chat," He said, nodding to the young boy, who blushed crimson and tugged on his father's sleeve anxiously. Atem chuckled and swept the crumbs onto the dirty dishes.

"Alright. Need a refill?"

Yuusei shook his head with a smile and waved at the little boy, who squealed and yanked on his weary-looking father until he came over to Yuusei. Atem chuckled and wove his way between tables, passing Stephanie as she left for a walk.

Yuusei spent his time chatting to his fans and watching Atem work out of the corner of his eye. Every so often, if it looked like Yuusei was going to be mobbed, Atem politely asked them to stop harassing him and back off a bit. It was all very civilised, and Yuusei got the distinct impression Atem had wanted someone to do crowd-control for him, when he had shared Yugi's body.

The hour passed quickly, and they made their escape from the fans who had performed an impressive feat of creating a flash-mob outside the café. Atem was smiling the whole time as Yuusei waved goodbye to them and walked his Duel Runner back, chatting to Atem as they walked.

When they got back to the garage they both sat down with relief on the battered sofa and talked properly, now they weren't in public. Crow was out, Atem said, training with Ushio for the cadet programme. As they talked, Yuusei felt that burning attraction again with every casual movement Atem made, and felt thrills go down his spine when their eyes met.

He tried to tell himself it was just because they hadn't seen each other properly for a while, but he couldn't convince himself. It was becoming more and more obvious to him that with every minute they spent together Yuusei admired him more.

_Damn, _he thought. _Jack would not be happy._

But he caught himself, surprised by his own thoughts. Why should Jack's reaction bother him? Jack had made it clear he was happy for Yuusei and Atem to see each other as long as Yuusei was careful not to get hurt.

Atem tilted his head slightly. "Yuusei?" He said softly, bringing him back to the present. "Are you alright? You were frowning."

"Just leftover stuff from work, don't worry. What were you saying about Joey Wheeler? He sounds like a real character."

Atem obligingly changed the subject, though it was clear by the look in his eyes he knew Yuusei had been lying, but was tactful enough not to demand an answer. Unlike Jack, Yuusei couldn't help but think, who would not have let the matter go until he knew.

As for Atem, he was by no means blind to Yuusei's glances and smiles. He knew what Yuusei was thinking because he was thinking the exact same thing. His heart beat just a little faster than normal as they talked. It was exciting, this attraction, he decided. He hadn't felt like this in a long while.

And knowing that Yuusei's thoughts were along the same lines only made it more exciting, he mused. It was like that part of a duel where your opponent knew that you were bluffing about something, and that you knew as well. It was the waiting for someone to crack that made the blood pound. The anticipation of the revelation of a well-honed strategy.

Perhaps that was a cold way of looking at it, he reflected, admiring how the golden streaks in Yuusei's hair shone in the light. Perhaps he was enjoying this so much simply because Yuusei was a very attractive man, and feeling that he was desired in every one of Yuusei's glances down his body was rather reassuring in a world where he knew so little of what was happening.

And it was nice to feel like a normal man again, with his blood pounding and desire coursing through him. Yes, Atem thought, smiling to himself, this was a good thing. And it could only get better.

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><p>Foreshadowing? Definitely.<p>

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you could take the time to leave a review or give me some feedback in a PM, I'd really appreciate it.

See you next chapter then~

NOTE: My internet access is going to be a bit patchy over the next few months (bad exam results = loss of internet, sadly) so if I don't keep to my current schedule of one chapter per week, you know why. -_-''


	6. Chapter 6

Hey there~

So yes, here's the chapter. C: I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you guys will enjoy it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>Over the next week Yuusei made a point of getting home earlier to talk to Crow and Atem. His work was still as demanding and gripping as ever, but he owed it to his friends to spend time with them, after all. Added to that, the fact he usually felt better rested the next day if he had spent time chatting and laughing with them. His time with Atem in particular invigorated him, though he tried not to dwell on it.<p>

Since he had realised that the vague feelings being around Atem had stirred in him since the former pharaoh's arrival were in fact feelings of a more sexual nature, he had tried not to make his attraction too obvious. He knew things were hard enough on Atem, what with adjusting to a whole new time, without having to deal with possibly-unwanted attentions from Yuusei. So he did the respectable thing and didn't make an issue of it.

Yuusei couldn't deny that now he was watching his own behaviour, he was much more aware of just how much Atem touched him. Sometimes it was a causal thing, a brush of fingers as they passed breakfast items to each other, an accidental nudge of the leg. But then, more often it seemed to Yuusei, there were the touches that were obviously not accidental. Putting his hand on Yuusei's shoulder, brushing down his arm, squeezing his wrist, a lingering palm on his knee or the small of his back… they made Yuusei's heart pound with anticipation, and sweet adrenaline to tingle through his veins. They made him think that maybe Atem felt the same way.

There was no real way to tell, though, without asking him directly. Atem hadn't volunteered any information in any partners he had previously had, and Yuusei had no idea how homosexuality had been viewed in Ancient Egypt. It could be that those touches which so inflamed Yuusei's blood were just what in Atem's time had been considered normal and not intimate at all.

The obvious answer would be to ask him, though Yuusei had the nagging feeling it would be rude to do so. And besides, he didn't want to make things awkward. So he simply enjoyed the touch of Atem's hands and treated him normally.

In work things were calming down slightly; Farah seemed to be making an effort to be more civil and, as Blake had suggested, leave her prejudices at the door before coming to work. They had run several simulations by now of different engine and reactor designs, looking for a possible new source of energy and investigating theories. Tinker thought he had a design for a new engine mould and injector system that could cater for the type of energy they were looking for that week; Blake liked to have them rotate theories ever week or so, Yuusei understood, to keep all possibilities open. It also kept their minds flexible and more open to new ideas and solutions that might have passed them by otherwise.

They were going to be testing the prototype engine today, and Yuusei was fairly excited. He switched off his phone so it wouldn't interfere with the electromagnetic fields they were going to be generating, hopefully, and helped Tinker make some final adjustments to the bulky piece of metal, then handed it over to Blake and Farah so they could record starting measurements. They were waiting in the observation area with Rueben and Amelia, who were looking over the programmes they had designed for this prototype and running the worst- and best-case scenario models again.

Soon they all piled into the observation chamber, custom built for just these situations. The chamber was two stories high and cut into the centre of the building, at least half the width of the building. They had needed to notify the other scientific research divisions in the building that they were planning a test rub in there; it was a shared space. Additionally, it let everyone know precisely why there might be fire alarms going off all over the building. It paid to be courteous, especially if the building might have to be evacuated if the experiment backfired.

The walls and floor were plain concrete, and the furnishings were rudimentary at best; a workbench with various instruments scattered over its surface here, a few dangling light-bulbs there, and a lot of sprinklers and gas masks stored around the room. At one end of the chamber was a solid block of lead-lined concrete with a small reinforced window and door, just large enough to hold the team. It was cosy in there, alright.

"Ready, everyone?" Blake said, shutting the door behind him as he squeezed in; electronic and magnetic seals made ominous noises as they locked the door tight, making the occupants as safe from any possible explosions or radiation as they could.

Terse nods met his question as they shuffled to make room; Yuusei smiled apologetically to Rueben and Amelia as they were squashed into the corner. Farah, to her credit, did not turn up her nose at having to rub elbows with Tinker and Yuusei, though she held herself very still and refused to make eye contact with them.

Amelia shouldered her way to the front of the space by the observation window, pulling a laptop with her; she had been chosen by various rounds of rock-paper-scissors to be the one to start it off, and she looked pleased at being a prominent member of the team. They all held their breath and strained their eyes to watch the bulky hunk of metal on the floor across the room as she keyed in the remote ignition codes for the fuel to begin coursing through the metal.

In all fairness to the engine, it exploded in great style. There was smoke, a minor shockwave, and it even set off the fire alarms in the ceiling of the chamber and jets of water sprayed down, promptly putting out the fiery piles of debris scattered around the chamber, even the few bits that had plastered themselves to the window in the observation cell. Tinker swore, Amelia squeaked, Rueben flinched, Farah screeched, Blake sighed and Yuusei winced.

Amelia dutifully waited for all the data to stop streaming into her laptop before announcing it was safe to leave. They all piled out, coughing slightly in the acrid air that smelled of hot metal and sizzled fuel. Tinker and Yuusei didn't mind the smell as much – they were used to it – and carefully manipulated some robotic arms to lift the hot, twisted and shredded bits of metal into a water-filled cart, ready to be taken back to Tinker's workshop for analysis.

"Well I think we can all agree that was a spectacular failure," Farah said crossly. "What went wrong?"

"We'll have to look at the data—" Amelia began.

"Yes, yes, but you must have _some_ idea of what happened, with all those simulations you three—" Farah nodded to Rueben, Amelia and Yuusei—"Have been playing with all week."

"Farah." Amelia said in a stern voice, frowning and crossing her arms. "We have to analyse the data before we can give you a definite answer on that. Alright?"

"Er, alright," Farah said, obviously taken aback by the normally shy programmer's attitude. "Whatever. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me." She swept out of the chamber, muttering under her breath about getting the stink out of her clothes. Rueben made a face at Amelia, who giggled and immediately looked guilty. Blake smiled fondly at them.

"Right then. How long do you think you'll need to crunch that data, and look at the engine?" Blake asked the room at large, minus Farah.

They all exchanged shrugs. "However long it takes, boss," Tinker said eventually. "We'll let you know."

"Fair enough," Blake said reasonably. "You know where to find me. Myself and Farah will be looking at different sources of energy."

They peeled off into their separate groups; Tinker and Yuusei carefully towed the parts back to the workshop while Rueben and Amelia closeted themselves in the programming suite, running numbers and graphs on all the screens, trying to make sense of the readings.

At the Blue Eyes Café, Atem was having a very busy morning. There was apparently some sort of fair in town, and there were a lot of tourists about. Naturally, they all wanted lunch or coffee or something to nibble on, and the café was the busiest he had seen it in his time there. He, Stephanie and the other few workers were run off their feet as they rushed to meet demands. Atem had learned early on in his employment there that people could be very nasty when they were craving a caffeine hit, and he for one did not want to deal with tired tourists needing some coffee and cake to perk them up enough to go see the sights, so everyone was trying to serve them as quickly as possible to prevent that horrific scenario from happening.

Getting more milk from the fridges at the back of the shop, he took a moment to press his fridge-cold hands to his forehead, trying to quell the pounding headache he had been enduring for the past hour or so. It was just stress and the fumes of coffee, he was sure. It would pass as soon as he could go outside. Unfortunately, none of the workers had been able to take a break longer than three or so minutes due to the rush of customers. The manager had been down, seen how bad it was, and promised them all an extra day of holiday to make up for no breaks during the day while making coffee along with them; it was something to do with constitutional rights, Atem had overheard Stephanie saying, and about regulated hours. He didn't understand but knew it would look suspicious if he asked so he stayed quiet and kept working.

Atem quickly rolled back into action, pouring coffee with one hand and picking up discarded plates with the other, weaving his way among tables, chairs, bulky prams, shopping bags cluttering the floor and overexcited children playing games under the tables. He exchanged weary looks with Stephanie as another crowd of tourists piled in mere moments after the other lot left. He was exhausted already and it was only midday. He hoped the influx of tourists would ease off as the day progressed. His headache was only getting worse but he kept smiling and dashing around.

A little while later Crow walked in and claimed a table, looking around at the hordes of people. Atem served him quickly, promising to talk when there was a break. Crow wished him luck and waited patiently, hiding his worry at how oddly pale Atem looked under his natural tan. There was a tightness about his eyes and shoulders that suggested pain but Crow supposed he would have to wait until Atem was free to ask him about it.

Unfortunately things only got busier from that point, if that were possible. Customers started hassling the staff for not serving them quickly enough and arguing with each other about who queued up first and who sat at a table first, getting loud and boisterous. The manager tried to get people to calm down but even he looked panicked. Crow was wondering if he should try and intervene as a Sector Security cadet when something very strange happened.

Atem could feel his headache pounding through his entire body and felt shivers curse through him. He did not feel well at all. As the noise levels rocketed, sending spikes of pain through his head, blackness started invading his vision, and sparks of light danced before his eyes. He staggered against the wall, spilling several cups of boiling hot coffee over an enraged customer. Atem didn't hear the man's shouts as black waves throbbed over his vision, and he succumbed to them with the dizzying feeling that he was being pulled out of his body. He tried fighting it then, thinking the Puzzle was reclaiming him, but he was too weak and in too much pain. He crumpled to the floor, his spirit tugged out of his body like a fish on a line.

Crow saw him fall like a puppet with its strings cut at the same time his Signer mark started to burn.

_This is not good,_ He thought in the back of his mind as he pushed through the shocked crowds to Atem's side. He was lying like a ragdoll with his limbs splayed where they had fallen, eyes slightly open and staring at nothing. A cold sweat broke over Crow's skin and he quickly checked for a pulse; he found one, but it was slow and sluggish. He swallowed hard when he saw blood trickling onto the floor – Atem must have hit his head on the floor when he fell.

Someone started screaming and several babies started up an uncertain whine. The man with coffee on his suit was loudly protesting to anyone listening that he had _not_ hit the waiter, that he had just collapsed.

"Is there a doctor in here?" Crow shouted over the din. No one came forward and several people got out mobile phones to call ambulances. "No ambulances!" He added, pushing them away with the cold, animal certainty that no doctor could treat this. "But someone lend me a phone, I know someone who can help."

At work, Yuusei had popped into the programming suite to help look over the data, and was amiably chatting with Amelia while they waited for a program to whirr through the data and make a graph, when his arm started burning painfully hot. He yelped and rolled up his sleeve, staring at the Signer mark. Rueben rushed over, eyes wide.

"It really _does_ glow," He whispered. "What does it mean?"

"Nothing good," Yuusei said tightly, a leaden weight of dread settling in his stomach and waves of cold horror washing over him. He stumbled to the window and searched the sky for any sign of the Divine Temple or Dark Signer beasts, clutching the mark. He couldn't shake the feeling it was to do with Atem.

They stayed at the window for a tense few minutes, Amelia and Rueben following Yuusei's lead. Farah stalked into the suite crossly. "Yuusei, do you always keep your mobile switched off?" She demanded to know.

"What?" Yuusei asked stupidly, looking over his shoulder at her in bafflement. She scowled at him.

"Someone's ringing your office phone, he said he couldn't get your mobile. I had to pick it up, the phone wouldn't stop ringing. Honestly. Some guy called Hogan."

"What did he say?" Yuusei asked, grabbing her sleeve. She pulled out of his grip reflexively, unsettled by the look in his eyes.

"Something about someone called Atem—hey, where are you going?"

Yuusei raced through the corridors back to his office and picked up the handset on his desk. "Crow? What is it, what's happened?" He asked breathlessly.

"It's Atem, he's collapsed at the café. I need your help, I can't lift him on my own. He's out cold." Crow answered. "I haven't got a clue what happened, but his head is bleeding and he's not responding."

"Give me five minutes," Yuusei said firmly, and hung up. He pounded on Blake's office door.

"Yuusei? What is it, all this noise is not—"

"Emergency," Yuusei interrupted. "I have to go."

"Well, okay," Blake said uncertainly. "Go, then."

"Thanks," Yuusei said gratefully, clapping him on the shoulder and running off. Blake watched him, stunned by the sudden change in Yuusei's demeanour from easy-going work colleague to the man from the television screens, possessed by urgency. And if he wasn't mistaken, his arm had been glowing too.

Yuusei never remembered how he got from his office to the Blue Eyes café that day except for a blur of vehicles and angry horns. He supposed he must have broken a dozen speeding laws but he didn't care. He slammed on the brakes outside the café and parked haphazardly on the pavement. He ran inside, pushing through the incredulous mob to Crow and Atem. He swore under his breath and quickly checked for his pulse and breathing, only a little relieved to find them.

"So it's not just mine," Crow muttered, nodding to Yuusei's arm. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know," Yuusei replied, gently touching the wound on Atem's head behind his ear. "Did it start when he collapsed?"

Crow nodded grimly and Yuusei bit his lip. "We shouldn't move him, but he can't stay here like this. Come on, let's get him home." They gently lifted Atem's limp body together, draping his arms over their shoulders and holding him around the waist, hooking their fingers though his belt loops.

"Back off," Crow shouted, and the crowd parted for them. Yuusei ignored the flash of cameras in his face as he and Crow quickly half-dragged half-carried Atem out, his shoes trailing on the floor. Luckily the café wasn't far from the garage, and they managed to get him there quickly. Outside, Yuusei told Crow to go back and get his bike while he brought Atem in. Crow was astounded – Yuusei had only ever let Kiryu ride his motorcycle without Yuusei being present, and that had been a dire circumstance – but only nodded and ran off to get it. This wasn't exactly a normal situation.

Yuusei hefted Atem into his arms, carrying him with difficulty up the stairs to Yuusei's bedroom. For such a short and slender man, Atem was a dead weight and surprisingly heavy. He carefully laid Atem down on the bed.

"Atem, can you hear me? It's Yuusei. I need you to wake up, Atem, come on…" Yuusei said, grabbing an old shirt and applying pressure to the wound. It looked superficial but like most head wounds it kept bleeding. Yuusei stuffed a few pillows and bundles of clothes under Atem's legs to keep the blood at the top of his body, trying to remember the rudimentary first aid skills he had picked up in the Satellite. He was less worried by the head wound than the lack of any response from Atem; his eyes stared blankly into the distance and his body and face were limp. He tried clicking his fingers by Atem's ears, shining light in his eyes, touching his face and even slapping his arms and legs, but nothing he did provided any stimulus.

"Where have you gone, Atem? Why won't you wake up?" Yuusei said, frowning. He had never seen anything like this, and was at a loss as to what to do. He had heard of people knocking themselves unconscious, but they usually roused themselves within a few minutes. Yuusei kept an eye on the clock, gnawing anxiously on his lip.

_Maybe we should get him to hospital,_ he thought, but was gripped by the same conviction Crow had experienced that this was outside of medical knowledge. And his arm was glowing as hot as before. Somehow, this was tied up with the Crimson Dragon. Was this why Atem had been transported to the future? Was the threat coming now? If so, they would need Atem's help for sure.

"Come on Atem, come back," He said, cupping Atem's cheek. "I need you to wake up. Please, Atem. For me, please…"

Atem could not hear him or feel his touch. He was disembodied and flying backwards, or so he thought. It wasn't really clear what was happening, but all Atem's spirit knew was that he was somehow travelling through time and that everything had a surreal ruby glow. And that he could at last feel the gods with him once more. He wanted to cry with relief but, bodiless as he was, this was not possible.

He was hurled into somewhere that looked like the Egypt he had known. Around him on the warm sands was the ghostly image of a fiery and golden dragon, its sinuous coils keeping his spirit in one place. Was this the Crimson Dragon, he wondered? He saw no living person but knew the gods were there with him, in the space within the fiery dragon's coils. He heard their voices in his mind, praising him for his faith and reassuring him that he was not abandoned by them.

_We cannot commune with you so far from Our own time,_ they explained. _This is the only way you may hear Our voices now, with the help of Our cousin spirit the Crimson Dragon._

_I understand, my Gods,_ Atem replied without words. _What is it You need me to do?_

_You were taken to the future for a reason, Pharaoh,_ they said, their mighty voices chiming in his mind and filling his spirit with joy.

_What is my task? _Atem asked humbly.

_You must help Yuusei Fudo,_ they replied. _He needs you. More, we cannot say._

_I do not understand,_ Atem confessed. _What does he need my help with? Is the future in danger?_

_More, we cannot say,_ they repeated.

_I see,_ Atem said. _I will try my hardest to help him, my Gods._

_Good. Know that we are pleased with you._

Atem basked in their praise, overcome with joy. Something changed in the 'air' around him, though, and for a moment he thought he heard Yuusei's voice calling to him.

_You must return to him now,_ the gods told him. _You have served Us well in your lifetimes, and We wish for your happiness._

He thanked them again with all the sincerity in his soul, and felt himself being pulled away from the sands, carried somehow by the Crimson Dragon. Now he knew what was happening, he didn't fight it and followed the faint sound of Yuusei's voice, pleading with him to return.

Yuusei was exhausted. Atem had been out cold for the best part of an hour now, but at least the bleeding had stopped. Yuusei sat on the bed with Atem and absently wrote down some errant code ideas for Rueben and Amelia.

His now-switched-on phone went off just as Crow brought him a plate of toast and some coffee. It was Rueben, calling about when he was coming back and what was happening.

"One of my friends collapsed," Yuusei replied wearily. "He's still out. I have to look after him."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I hope he gets better soon. Anyway, um, I know this might not be the best time, but me and Amelia could really use your help with something here." Rueben quickly outlined the problem and Yuusei listened attentively, brushing Atem's fringe back from his face as he thought.

"Okay, that sounds reasonable," Yuusei replied when Rueben was done. "I'll jot down a couple of ideas, I can't keep them all straight in my head right now. Do you want to swing by and pick them up?"

Rueben, of course, was overjoyed at the prospect of coming over to his idol's home, and copied down the directions. Yuusei smiled at his exuberance and put his phone away. He scribbled down some solutions in a notepad and waited for Rueben to get there. He found that of their own volition his hands were stroking through Atem's hair, and found it surprisingly soft and thick. He gently finger-combed the former-pharaoh's hair, watching his face. The desire was there, of course, but kept back by the concern he felt.

He sighed and cupped Atem's cheek again. "Come on," he said wearily. "Wake up, Atem."

There was a timid knock at the door and Yuusei called for the person to come in, dropping his hand away from Atem. Rueben came in, looking a little awestruck at entering his hero's bedroom. He went positively goggle-eyed seeing Atem on the bed.

"Genetic fluke," Yuusei lied quickly. "He just looks like the King of Games."

"Oh, right," Rueben said, deflating a little. "Anyway, do you have those solutions?"

Yuusei ripped out the several pages of notes he had made and handed them to Rueben with a tired smile. "Try some of those, they might help."

"Thanks," Rueben said, gripping them tightly. "I hope your friend gets better soon."

As if called by Rueben's words, Atem suddenly gasped and opened his eyes wide, hands reaching out. Yuusei automatically caught one of his hands and held it tight in his own, the other gently pushing him back down onto the pillows. He dimly registered his Signer mark stop burning.

"Don't move, you hit your head," Yuusei smiled down at Atem, relieved beyond measure. He kept his hand on Atem's chest, who didn't seem to mind at all.

"I did?" Atem asked, looking confused. "Oh, I guess I fell over then. How long was I out?"

"About an hour. I'm so glad you're back. What happened? We were really worried about you."

Atem was about to reply when he caught sight of Rueben watching. Yuusei glanced over as well and flushed slightly, but refused to let go of Atem's hand. He had forgotten Rueben was there too.

"Er, I'll go," Rueben said, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable. "S-See you tomorrow, Yuusei?"

"Sure. Tell Blake for me?"

Rueben nodded and closed the door behind him. Yuusei smiled and returned his attention to Atem, who looked similarly amused. "So what happened, Atem?"

Atem outlined everything that had happened. "They couldn't tell me anything else, though. I don't know if there is a threat or not. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"It's alright. So the Crimson Dragon took you back? That explains why our Signer marks started glowing." Yuusei commented. He watched Atem's face for a moment. "You seem happier now."

"Yes, I guess I am. They spoke to me again, Yuusei," Atem said, laughing lightly. "It's a great thing."

"I'm happy for you, then," Yuusei smiled, unconsciously brushing his thumb along the curve of Atem's finger. Atem's eyebrows rose a little and he looked down to their entwined fingers. He blinked, expression curiously devoid of emotion.

Yuusei did nothing and did not apologise, his heart pounding painfully as he waited for Atem's response. After a few moments, Atem smiled gently and returned the gesture a little awkwardly, as if he wasn't used to it.

Warmth suffused Yuusei's body along with a surge of relief and desire. He smiled easily. "I'll let you get some rest," he said. "Try not to move your head for a bit, you might have a concussion."

"Oh, alright," Atem said, looking a little confused at Yuusei suddenly leaving. "See you later then."

"Sure thing," Yuusei smiled and squeezed Atem's fingers before gently letting go and leaving him alone. Atem watched him go, smiling to himself. He looked at the hand Yuusei had been holding and flexed the fingers, wondering how a simple touch could make them tingle so, and make his whole body feel like it was made of light.

It was, he thought to himself, a good thing. He smiled wider and closed his eyes, slipping easily into pleasant dreams.

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><p>Sweet, sweet Synchroshipping. =u= It's safe to assume more interesting things will be happening in the upcoming chapters~<p>

If you'd take a moment to leave a review I'd really appreciate it, they make my day. If you feel like chatting about the fic, shippings or life in general feel free to PM me.

See you in the next chapter~


	7. Chapter 7

AS OF THIS CHAPTER, RATING INCREASES TO 'MATURE'. There, I warned you. Have fun~

*Sex scene included, you have been warned. Don't like, don't read*

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>The bar-come-restaurant was raucous and full of people shouting over the din of the boom-bass music and fighting to be heard among the other party-goers. Yuusei was not really enjoying the throbbing headache he was experiencing, but he knew he should stay and be polite. A little noise for a few hours wasn't the worst thing that could happen, and he supposed he did want to celebrate the first successful prototype test with his co-workers. He just wished they could celebrate it somewhere quieter; he had been working hard all day and was exhausted. He would really rather go to a quieter, smaller place, or just go home.<p>

Everyone else except Tinker looked like they were having a good time, enjoying the atmosphere. Yuusei and Tinker traded a covert despairing look. Maybe it a city thing, enjoying this sort of scene. They were still in their work clothes as they had come straight from the office, though noticeably without their laboratory coats. Tinker looked as dishevelled as ever and raised an eyebrow at Farah, who was dressed as immaculately and elegantly as ever, when he caught her disapproving look.

They all ordered drinks, and Yuusei found to his surprise that the others all ordered alcohol. He simply asked for a fizzy drink and explained to his curious colleagues that he was driving home. They chatted amiably – as much as they could in such a din – among themselves, discussing the work in guarded terms and their own lives. They didn't really have much chance to simply talk to each other at work aside from casual chats in between test runs. Yuusei was content to stay quiet, sipping his drink and observing his co-workers.

Tinker, Amelia and Rueben got on pretty well (the alcohol seemed to have mellowed Tinker's sometimes harsh personality to make him more likeable), which left Farah and Blake a little to the side. They talked to each other, and the party seemed likely to schism into two groups with Yuusei to the side until Blake noticed the same thing and made more effort to include himself and Farah in conversation with the other three. Farah was reserved at first but was eventually drawn into talking more freely, even with Tinker, if the subject strayed too near herself or her accomplishments.

The others tried to bring Yuusei into their conversations but he remained casually disinterested, offering a few comments here and there. They seemed to accept it after a while and stopped trying. Yuusei just wanted to go home, really, and preferably see Atem, but he knew he should stay for at least a little while longer. His idea of celebration was much different to everyone else's, but he wasn't about to ruin their fun. He found it interesting how the dynamics of the group changed when they were outside of work.

Blake became less of a commanding figure; that role was taken up, surprisingly, by Amelia. She had demonstrated occasional moments of outspokenness in the laboratory, but otherwise she seemed to keep to herself, most happy talking quietly to Rueben. Outside of work, however, she came out of her shell a bit more and steered the conversation with a subtle touch. As the evening wore on and Yuusei sipped his way through several cold drinks to try and shift his headache, he was rather amused to note that with each glass of beer Rueben drank, the more giggly he became. Especially with Amelia, and it was cheerfully obvious to everyone that they liked each other as more than colleagues, though perhaps nothing had happened yet.

Yuusei hid his smile as Rueben clumsily complimented Amelia's hair and blushed furiously, looking mightily impressed with his own daring. She also blushed and patted his knee in thanks, positively glowing with pleasure.

Watching their clumsy courtship and listening to Tinker and Blake talk about their families gave him a not altogether unpleasant ache in his chest. Listening to Blake describe his son's first steps, and his joy at seeing them, was painful enough to hear. But listening to Tinker talk guardedly about a past girlfriend brought to mind rather pleasant memories of Jack, and more recent ones of Atem, that soothed the pain somewhat.

Since Atem's collapse a fortnight or so ago, they had only grown closer. Whenever they were in a room together, they would seek each other out, and inevitably something would happen by way of a touch here, a lingering smile there. Yuusei understood without needing to be told that Atem felt the same way, but that he was unsure what to do about it. So Yuusei let him have some space – if returning the slow caresses down his arm and so on counted as giving him space – and waited. He wasn't precisely sure what the label for their relationship would be, given that they both knew what was going on and where it was heading, but neither had said a word about it, but he reasoned it was somewhere between flirting and dating.

He was very much looking forward to taking the next step with Atem, and just the thought of his name caused a smile to bloom on his face and heat to bubble in his blood. There was a strange tension between them now, and with every passing day and each desirous touch, Yuusei became sure that soon they would _have_ to break that last shy barrier and go for it. He knew he couldn't take it for much longer, and he thought Atem must feel the same way. It was certainly going to be an intense couple of days, that he knew for sure.

"So what about you, Yuusei? Got a girlfriend stashed away somewhere?" Blake interrupted his thoughts, and Yuusei started in surprise, jolted back into the present. "From the look on your face I'd say you were just thinking about her." Blake teased good-naturedly.

Yuusei coughed, embarrassed to have lost track of his surroundings. He wondered what his face had looked like. "Uh, no, not really."

"You must have your eye on someone at least," Farah said, friendlier now that alcohol had dulled her inhibitions a little.

Yuusei could see he wasn't going to get out of answering this, as the other three had turned to him as well, expectant. He felt his neck get hot and he coughed again, mind racing as he tried to think of a way out of saying who he was thinking about.

"Well, you could say that," He hedged, opting for mysterious rather than evasive, if there was a noticeable difference. "It's nothing certain, though."

They all made intrigued noises and Rueben motioned for him to say on. The embarrassed blush rose up his cheeks.

"I'm hoping something will happen," He elaborated reluctantly, trying to be as vague as possible. "Time will tell, I'm not about to rush things and ruin a good thing."

"Playing the long game, huh?" Rueben grinned, looking more than a little tipsy.

Yuusei gave a noncommittal shrug and smiled briefly at them, hoping that would be enough to satisfy them. He was hesitant about revealing his feelings, almost afraid that it would somehow backfire and prove him a fool if he was imagining Atem's warm, heady responses to Yuusei's tentative advances. If Atem rejected him, he didn't want to have revealed it for nothing. He took a long drink to push away those gloomy thoughts.

They seemed mollified and moved on to other topics. He let out a surreptitious breath of relief and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Rueben was eyeing him speculatively, perhaps remembering the less than strictly-platonic exchange between Yuusei and Atem after the former pharaoh's collapse. Yuusei glanced to him, meeting his eyes questioningly. Rueben looked away awkwardly, and Yuusei's eyebrows rose a little of their own volition.

_So, seems he's put the pieces together._ Yuusei thought, and gave a mental shrug. It wasn't up to him to decide Rueben's mind for him. He was certain Rueben would keep his suspicions to himself and wouldn't blurt them out to the others, given that Yuusei hadn't said anything to cure them of the notion he was interested in a woman.

A handful of minutes later his phone began to ring and he made his way out of the rowdy bar to the quieter corridor separating the male and female toilets before answering.

"Yuusei, it's Crow."

"Hey, what's happening?" Yuusei asked, smiling and leaning against the wall. "I should be home soon, I can duck out of this in a little while."

"The garage is flooded," Crow said, sounding tired. But then, he would have had a full day of cadet training before coming home. "A burst pipe or something. Zora's going off her nut of course, but there's not much we can do about it."

"Is anything damaged?" Yuusei sighed. They had gone through floods before, and it was usually harder to recoup losses than anything else.

"Not that we could see," Crow replied. "Me and Atem have just spent the last two hours dragging stuff out and dumping it in Zora's front room. A couple of the engine parts are flooded, but it's just metal. The water didn't touch our rooms upstairs, luckily."

"So only the garage floor itself and the kitchen were affected? That's not too bad."

"No, I guess not," Crow agreed. "But we're gonna have to crash somewhere else tonight while the water company sorts out the pipes."

Yuusei sighed and quickly did a mental inventory of their funds. "Do you reckon we could pay for a hotel?"

"I think so," Crow replied thoughtfully. "You're getting a better wage now, right? And Atem got paid today. Oh, and I cashed my training bursary a few days back too, we should be able to do it for a night."

"Okay, I'll be right over. See you soon."

It took a little explaining to his tipsy colleagues, but they let him go with expressions of sympathy. The bar Blake had chosen was within walking distance of the office, so it wasn't long before he was speeding through the streets towards home.

Outside the garage a few water trucks were gathered, and a throng of tired-looking people in fluorescent jackets and thigh-high gaiters and wet boots, holding pipes and suction nozzles. He spotted Atem and Crow watching the proceedings from Zora's doorway and pulled up beside them.

He nodded to Crow and stood by Atem, who smiled tiredly at him and gently stroked the back of Yuusei's hand with his fingertips by way of greeting. Yuusei unobtrusively returned the gesture, lingering down Atem's long fingers. Crow pretended not to notice, but frowned at him.

"Yuusei, have you been drinking and driving?" Crow asked disapprovingly. "You smell like alcohol."

"No, no. We had a good day so Blake took us out to a bar to celebrate," Yuusei explained. "I had cola. What about you two?"

They both said nothing special had happened, and they fell into silence while they watched the water company's employees dash in and out of the garage. Eventually a leader of some sort came over to them and explained that the damage to the building had been minimal, and nothing was irreparably affected, though it would take them some time to fix the faulty pipes responsible.

The three of them were given gaiters and anoraks and allowed inside to collect some belongings for the night. There was still a lot of standing water, as the workers had been getting in and out of the window rather than release the water into the street, and it came up to Atem's hip as they waded through to the stairs. Yuusei grimaced as they collected a few changes of clothes and necessary toiletries; even when all the water was gone, everything would be soaked. Zora would have no choice but to charge them a higher rent to cover repairs, no matter how much she would dislike doing it.

It took them some time to track down any hotels with vacancies at such short notice that weren't extortionately expensive, and even then it wasn't what they had really wanted. It was a small hotel, probably only twenty rooms in it, and the facilities were most likely worse than what they had enjoyed at the garage. But the sign at the door said there were rooms, and they were all tired.

"The only free rooms are a double bed and a single bed," The half-asleep receptionist told them, covering a yawn with the back of his hand. "Sorry."

Crow glanced at Yuusei, and smiled. "I'll take the single if you two can bear to share for a night," He grinned, and Yuusei grinned back at him. "But if you two start fighting I'll have to separate you," he added teasingly.

Yuusei swatted him on the arm, smiling. To the receptionist he said, "We'll take the rooms, thank you."

They made their way upstairs with keys and Yuusei closed the door behind him with a soft click, watching Atem walk to the window, setting his bag down on the bed. It was just the two of them in the room, and only one bed. Heat began to course through Yuusei's body in slow, heady waves. And then there was Atem, silhouetted by the window, his lithe yet muscled frame perfectly shown off.

If Yuusei didn't know better he would have thought Atem had stood there deliberately for just that purpose.

He swallowed, feeling a little dizzy by the strength of the desire burning under his skin, and slowly walked over to join Atem. He let his hand slide slowly down Atem's back to rest at the small of his back. Atem smiled slowly, watching the lights of the city. His eyes were bright and slightly hooded. Yuusei noticed his lips were slightly parted, damp and glistening. The tension between them thickened, and the air felt so charged Yuusei thought he could run a current from it.

"So," Yuusei said softly to break the heavy silence. "Which side of the bed do you want?"

Atem turned slowly towards Yuusei so that his arm curled around his hip, facing him. Atem placed his hands against Yuusei's stomach and slowly moved them upwards over his chest, pressing lightly and exploring the warm muscles. Yuusei's heart started pounding harder, adrenaline tingling in his limbs. Atem's eyes followed his hands' progress, and met Yuusei's as his hands came to rest on Yuusei's neck.

Atem smiled slowly, a dark look in his eyes that sent jolts of pleasure down Yuusei's spine. He could feel his own lips parting in desire, and his breathing was ragged.

"Your side," Atem murmured, and quickly leaned up to kiss Yuusei firmly on the mouth. Yuusei made a surprised sound in his throat that quickly changed to a muffled moan as Atem deepened the kiss with a lascivious heat, expertly pushing his tongue into Yuusei's mouth. Atem chuckled at Yuusei's response, the vibrations from his throat sending pleasure shivering through Yuusei's body.

Yuusei pulled him closer by the hips, kissing him back with an urgent passion; Atem ran his hands through Yuusei's hair as he kissed him, holding him close. Their skin was hot to the touch and the temperature of the room seemed to have shot up ten degrees. All of their beings were concentrated on the simple sensations of their lips and tongues, pulling each other close and exploring each other's bodies, their harsh breathing the only sound in the room.

"What are you…?" Yuusei murmured, feeling Atem's hands slide under his shirt.

"Take it off," Atem whispered hotly, his voice quiet but commanding, pressing his hands to Yuusei's muscular torso. Yuusei obeyed without thinking, dropping it to the floor. Atem made a pleased sound and bent to taste his skin, his tongue darting over the hot flesh, sucking and lightly biting. Yuusei gasped raggedly, overwhelmed by pleasure.

Yuusei ran his hands over Atem's back and up into his magnificent hair, distracted by the softness of the strands sliding through his fingers and the irresistible feel of Atem's mouth on his neck, chest, shoulders, stomach, hips…

Yuusei pulled him up and kissed him hard, the lust in his body making him less gentle. Atem didn't seem to mind, kissing him back just as hard. Impatiently, Atem took off his own shirt and pressed close, the burning skin of his chest pressed into Yuusei's. They both gasped and Atem grinned, his expression dark and wild.

They traded kisses that made their lips burn while their hands roamed over each other's torsos, their hot breath bathing the other's face. Yuusei marvelled at the man who had been so awkward and hesitant about showing affection, who was now transformed into a confident, teasing, lustful being. Almost as if he had heard Yuusei's thoughts, oh-so-slowly one of Atem's hands trailed down Yuusei's front and pressed firmly over his groin, laughing softly with pleasure as Yuusei bit back a cry and his manhood throbbed against Atem's hand, even through the fabric. Any faint doubts about Atem's experience vanished with that touch. He knew exactly what he was doing.

His hand slowly pressed harder into Yuusei, who gasped and pulled Atem closer, knowing the former pharaoh was watching his face. Yuusei's hands grasped at Atem's hips and started unbuckling his belt, snapping it out of his trousers and dropping it to the floor. Atem chuckled and then moaned lustfully as Yuusei batted his hand away and ground their hips together, pressing the hardness of their crotches tight against each other.

They grinned breathlessly at each other, features alight with excitement and desire. Atem glanced meaningfully to the bed and lifted an eyebrow. "Do you want to…?" He whispered. The air grew hotter again; going to bed would mean this wasn't just some idle fooling around.

"I want to," Yuusei replied immediately. Atem smirked and pushed at his chest, walking Yuusei backwards until his knees hit the bed, and he sat down. Yuusei expected Atem to straddle his thighs; instead Atem parted Yuusei's knees and knelt between them, forcing Yuusei to widen his hips. Yuusei must have looked surprised because Atem chuckled and stroked his cheek tenderly.

"Is this alright?" Atem asked, lifting Yuusei's legs higher around his hips. Yuusei thought about it for one whole second and nodded, grinning. He hadn't been on bottom for ages, and he thought he would rather enjoy it, especially with Atem. Atem's answering grin was predatory, and sent pleasure flooding through Yuusei's body, collecting almost painfully in his groin. "Well then, let's get to it."

Before Yuusei could say anything else, Atem covered his mouth with his own, his body pressed hard on top of Yuusei's as his hands worked on Yuusei's trousers; Yuusei moaned into Atem's mouth and did the same, pushing his trousers down as much as he could with his hands and feet, kicking off his boots with difficulty. Soon they were down to just their underwear, their bodies on display in the low light, dark skin shining with a faint sheen of sweat. With an agonizing slowness, Atem peeled off their underwear until they lay gasping, pressed naked against each other.

Yuusei felt so hot he could barely catch his breath, the delicious sensation of Atem's naked body crushed against his almost more than he could handle. He saw Atem's eyes glittering above him and felt his hand creeping up his body; his fingers brushed over Yuusei's wet, parted lips and he immediately sucked on them, understanding in an instant. With no lubricant to hand, saliva would have to do. So he eagerly coated Atem's fingers in his saliva, the knowledge of what was going to happen next inflaming his body.

Atem took his dripping hand back and chuckled, trailing his finger teasingly around Yuusei's entrance, making him moan before finally pushing his fingers inside the gasping duellist, preparing him for what was to come. Yuusei was glad of it: he hadn't had sex since he and Jack broke up, and that had been some months ago. His inner muscles clenched and stretched as Atem pushed deeper, widening him.

"I'm ready," Yuusei gasped after some minutes. "Please, now…"

"Gladly," Atem all but purred, and pushed Yuusei's legs apart. Yuusei lay back fully on the bed and took a deep breath. Atem thrust into him and they both cried out in pleasure. Yuusei was fairly sure Atem croaked out something in Egyptian but was too busy drowning in the feeling of Atem inside him to care.

They went slowly at first, until lust made them urgent. Atem thrust hard and fast in and out of Yuusei, his slender fingers gripped tight around Yuusei's manhood, eliciting breathless groans and gasps from each other.

Yuusei reached up to stroke through Atem's hair as they panted and rocked together, and Atem kissed his palm with a smile. Then he took Yuusei's ankles and carefully lifted his legs up over his shoulders, pushing deeper into Yuusei, who groaned and arched his back in pleasure. Atem laughed breathlessly and kissed his knee.

"You look so… sensual writhing around like that, Yuusei," Atem murmured. Yuusei gripped the bedcovers in his fists in reply, grinding harder against Atem, trying to push him deeper.

"I'm close," Yuusei whispered in a strangled voice, panting. "I'm so damn close…"

Atem thrust harder and hit a spot deep inside Yuusei that made white-hot fire race through his body, wrenching all control from him as his inner muscles clenched tight around Atem's manhood, pulling him deeper. They cried out simultaneously and were suddenly still, muscles locked rigid in the blissful moment of climax.

Yuusei flopped back onto the bed, legs falling down. Atem grinned and carefully pulled out, wiping his hand dry on Yuusei's thigh, who laughed lazily at the gesture.

"That felt way too good," Yuusei grinned, pushing his hair back from his damp face, the satisfaction after the release of so much pent-up desire warming him. Atem smirked and sat down, resting his hand on Yuusei's thigh. He looked pensive. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's _wrong_, Yuusei," Atem said, smiling at him a little shyly. "I'm just not sure what happens next."

Yuusei propped himself up on his elbows to see him better, admiring his messy hair. He thought for a few moments. "Atem, have you… have you ever had a boyfriend before?"

The word didn't seem right, couldn't apply itself to Atem. He gave Yuusei an odd look, confused by the term.

"I haven't had an equal relationship with another man, no," Atem said after a minute.

Yuusei arched an eyebrow, smiling. "You certainly knew what to do just now, very well in fact."

Atem smirked, pleased by the compliment. "Thank you. I said I haven't had a _relationship_, not that I haven't had sex."

Yuusei frowned for a moment, confused in the haze of satisfaction. Then, "Oh, I see. You were the Pharaoh. There could never be any equality, they would always be subservient to you."

"Yes," Atem said simply. "Afterwards, I would bless them and send them on their way. Looking back, it was probably akin to prostitution. But it happened." He shrugged, looking a little uneasy.

"Sounds lonely," Yuusei commented, sitting up and gently taking Atem's hand. "Sex is all well and good, but I personally prefer someone to hold afterwards."

Atem blinked. "I don't understand."

Yuusei said nothing for a moment. "I'm happy to take this as far as you want, Atem. If you just want this to be sex, or nothing, or more than that, I won't ask you for more than you're willing to give."

Atem looked down, though he didn't let go of Yuusei's hand. "I don't know. I'd like to have sex again, but other than that I don't know. It was never an option before."

"Then we'll take it slow."

Atem smiled at him. "Forgive me if I've got this wrong, but doesn't that phrase usually refer to waiting _before_ having sex?"

Yuusei laughed and kissed his cheek. "You know what I mean. Well I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Shall we sleep?"

Atem smiled and slid under the covers. Yuusei joined him, lying close enough for the air to burn between their limbs. They were silent for some time.

"Yuusei," Atem said softly, turning to look at him. "What did you mean before, about holding someone afterwards?"

"Like this," Yuusei murmured, enfolding Atem gently in his arms and holding him close into his chest. He softly kissed the back of his neck. Atem caught his breath, caught off-guard by how immediately sheltered and safe he felt. "Good?"

"Good," Atem whispered, relaxing into Yuusei's arms. "Don't let go?"

Yuusei kissed the back of his neck again with a smile. "I won't. Good night." They were asleep within minutes, exhausted by their hard days at work and the flooding. The rush of energy that their lust had brought had faded away, and both were worn out. They slept peacefully, nestled together. At some point in the night Atem rolled over and curled into Yuusei's hold, cheek pillowed on Yuusei's chest. Yuusei's response was to smile and hold him closer in his sleep.

The next morning, Yuusei woke slowly with the luxurious ease of someone who knows he has someone to wake up with. When he opened his eyes he knew instinctively that Atem was already awake, and probably had been for some time, but he hadn't moved out of the embrace they had fallen asleep enjoying. Atem's hands were placed on Yuusei's chest and his hair was tickling Yuusei's neck.

"Good morning," Yuusei murmured, smiling. Atem looked up and smiled shyly at him, then gently kissed him. Yuusei smiled and kissed him back, a dim flush of desire waking again. They lay there for quite some time, exploring each other's mouths with more delicacy and gentleness than they had the previous night. Their limbs felt heavy and soft with satisfaction, and their bodies warmed the sheets pleasantly.

Eventually Yuusei had to break the kiss, a little breathless. "What time is it?" He was supposed to have been in work half an hour ago. He sprang out of bed, hurriedly pulling on yesterday's clothes from the floor. Atem sat up in bed and watched him with a smile.

"I didn't want to wake you up," Atem said. "I wanted us to lie there."

Yuusei stopped trying to comb his hair back to normality and smiled at Atem, touched. "Me too. But I'll see you later. I could come to the café for lunch, if you want."

"You know when my break is," Atem smiled, brushing his hand along the antler-like flicks of Yuusei's hair. "I'll see you then."

Yuusei was made even more late by a long kiss with Atem, unwilling to let go. He ran into the office and apologised breathlessly to Blake.

Blake just looked him up and down, taking in his clothes from yesterday, rumpled as if they had been on the floor all night, and his hair even stranger than normal. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Just don't let it happen again," He said kindly. "Hope you had a fun night out of it."

Yuusei blushed hotly and escaped to his office, closing the door firmly on Blake's chuckles. Only a few hours to lunchtime.

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><p>There we go, we have Synchroshipping lift-off in this chapter~! For some reason it derpishly amused me that the sex scene was in the 7th chapter and there are 7 Millennium Items. Don't ask me about that logic, I haven't got a clue XD<p>

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you would take a moment to review, I'd really appreciate it. See you next chapter~ :)


	8. Chapter 8

Aaaaaand this chapter makes Revved Forwards officially my longest fanfic so far~ :3 ... I'm happy, shush.

I had a ludicrous amount of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you guys will enjoy it too~ Uploaded more quickly because I thought I was going on holiday Friday evening, and as such would be without internet until next Tuesday, but that's happening next weekend instead. OTL So yeah, a quick upload for you to enjoy C:

Also I changed the names to Atem + Yuusei rather than Yami Yugi + Yuusei because I realised how throroughly I derped when reading the character lists. Herpaderp. I think I was looking under P for Pharaoh, or something. OTL

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>The next week was stressful.<p>

Although Yuusei had promised not to push Atem too far too quickly, and to 'take things slowly', he couldn't help but be frustrated by Atem's mixed attitude. When they were alone he became a confident, commanding lover the likes of which Yuusei had been fantasising about for years. But when they were in public he was shy and awkward, and if Yuusei tried to touch even his arm – how less-sexual could you get, honestly – he would jerk away as if burned, mumbling an inadequate apology. He had behaved more normally before they had given in to their desires that night at the hotel.

Frankly, it made Yuusei wonder if he should have had sex with him at all. He was obviously freaked out by the idea of being more than just sex-friends. He had no problem with Atem not wanting to be 'out' in public – hell, Yuusei hadn't outed himself at work, he could hardly talk – but he was awkward even around Crow or when they were alone in public. The hypocrisy of acting like they were just friends in the day and then Atem closing the bedroom door and pushing Yuusei onto the bed, it was immeasurably frustrating.

Yuusei resolved to talk to him about it but every time he tried, something would happen. Crow would need some help in the kitchen, or Yuusei would get a call from work, and the conversation would be delayed. In the evening they were both too tired and Yuusei wouldn't protest as Atem kissed him, and would hold him close afterwards.

His annoyance and confusion must have been blindingly obvious to everyone except Atem himself; Crow had commented that Atem was being strange, and offered to talk about it, but Yuusei had brushed him off impatiently as he was anxious to get to work. And at work he knew Blake was watching him carefully with those too-knowing eyes. After deducing why Yuusei had been late, Blake had been quiet on the subject of Yuusei's love/sex life, which had been nice seeing as he had fended off too many questions that day about why he was so messy and why he was wearing the same clothes as the day before. But knowing that Blake was assessing him put his already-confused mind on edge.

Yuusei found himself, a few days after that night, almost unwilling to go home and face dealing with the hurt and confusion there. He volunteered to stay through the night to rewrite and monitor a simulation.

"You sure?" Rueben asked. "I mean, if you've got somewhere to be…"

"I'm sure. You two have fun," Yuusei replied tiredly, nodding to Rueben and Amelia, who were going to have a drink together. "See you tomorrow."

Rueben hesitated. "Um… are you sure everything's okay, Yuusei? You don't really seem… happy. I-If you don't mind me saying."

"I'm fine," Yuusei lied, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He spared Rueben a quick smile. "Go on, don't keep her waiting."

Rueben left, his anxiety over Yuusei quickly replaced by nervous excitement as he took Amelia out on their first official date. A few minutes later Yuusei called Zora and asked her to tell Crow and Atem that he was working overnight; their phone in the garage needed replacing after the burst pipe. He pushed away the thought that it would annoy Crow and confuse Atem. He didn't want to go home that night. When he turned away from the phone he jumped, startled. Blake had crept up on him and was standing in the doorway.

"Staying the night?" Blake asked neutrally.

Yuusei nodded. "Someone has to reprogram that faulty simulation, and it's gonna take a long time. I figured I'd get it done now, and let Rueben and Amelia go out on their date."

"Don't you have someone to be with? That girlfriend?"

"So are you staying as well?" Yuusei asked, dodging the question. Blake raised an eyebrow at his evasion.

"Yes, I thought I would keep you company."

"What about your family, won't they miss you?" Yuusei asked, a faint pain in his chest at the thought of a child waiting for his daddy to come home.

Blake smiled. "They won't miss me for a night. Besides, it's going to be a long night. I wouldn't want you to go crazy, staying here all on your own."

Yuusei smiled and followed him out, back into the programming suite. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

For the next few hours Yuusei lost himself in numbers and commands as he carefully went through the simulation's coding with a fine-tooth comb, making painfully slow progress as he identified each bug, recorded it, and wrote down several solutions that could all help; the one to be chosen would be the one that would fit best with the other corrections, so that would have to be done afterwards. Blake kept him company by bringing him a steady stream of coffee and biscuits, reading a well-thumbed paperback to occupy himself.

Yuusei started when Blake turned on the desk lamps as well as the general room lights, his eyes hurting from the dramatic change in lighting. Blake noticed his reaction and frowned.

"Come on, let's go for a walk, get you out of that chair." He said, and pulled Yuusei bodily from the room.

Yuusei laughed and stretched out his cramping shoulders as they walked around the offices. "Thanks, I think I was about to turn to stone," He smiled.

"There, a smile," Blake commented. Yuusei looked at him quizzically. "For the past week or so you've been going around with a frown on your face, Yuusei. Is there anything the matter?"

Yuusei briefly considered lying, but knew as soon as he thought it that it would be wrong. Blake was a good man, who was honestly concerned about him. As well as the fact they were going to be stuck together all night, and he didn't want to piss off his boss this early into the evening.

"Just personal stuff, it really doesn't matter," Yuusei shrugged, avoiding his eye.

"Hmm, are you sure it doesn't matter? You're a member of my team, and I try and look after my team. And let's face it, we've got hours to kill. What's the harm? I'm not going to tell anybody."

"I know," Yuusei said, dropping his coffee mug into the kitchenette as they passed; he would wash it later. "But it's just trivial stuff. It won't affect my work, I promise."

Blake chuckled and patted his shoulder in a fatherly way. "That wasn't why I was asking, you dolt. Despite my initial misgivings as to your inclusion in the project, you've proven yourself to be a very valuable member of the team, as well as a likeable person. I'd like to say I was your friend."

Yuusei glanced up at him and smiled hesitantly. "Are you allowed to be friends with your boss?"

"You know my team does not do things conventionally," Blake grinned, squeezing his shoulder. "If something's bothering you, don't hesitate to talk, alright? I know you have this habit of being all noble and self-sacrificing, but you don't need to be like that. Okay? Your needs are important too."

"Okay," Yuusei blushed sheepishly. "I think I'd better get back to work, though. I'm only about a quarter through, this is going to take ages."

Blake looked unconvinced that everything was, as Yuusei had lied, alright. But he earned a little more of Yuusei's respect by not demanding that he spit it out or get it off his chest or whatever. He just clapped him on the shoulder again and settled down with his book, occasionally glancing up at Yuusei thoughtfully every so often as he got back to work.

The night wore on in an endless, blurring stream of code, and coffee cups and sweet wrappers started to multiply around Yuusei's work spot. Sometime after midnight Yuusei's mobile rang, and he almost regretfully picked up.

"Are you coming home tonight or what?" Crow demanded, without even saying hello.

"Hi Crow," Yuusei sighed. "And I don't know when I'll be back, this work is taking a long time. Look, don't wait up for me."

"It's not me who's waiting up for you, Yuusei," Crow said pointedly, and Yuusei winced, feeling guilty. He sighed again and left the room, ignoring Blake's assessing looks. He leaned against the wall outside.

"I'm doing this as fast as I can," Yuusei said tiredly, watching his hand shake slightly from a mixture of exhaustion and a sugary caffeine overload. "Tell him to go to sleep."

"Tell him yourself."

Yuusei heard the phone changing hands. "…hold it like this? Yes? Okay. Yuusei?"

"Hey, Atem," Yuusei said, smiling despite himself. Obviously Atem was still having trouble with modern technology.

"How long is your work going to take?" Atem asked, then said shyly, "I miss you."

Yuusei felt another headache coming on, confused by Atem's attitude. "I miss you too," He replied quietly. "But don't wait up, alright? I don't want you collapsing again or anything."

"You know that had nothing to do with tiredness," Atem said matter-of-factly, though Yuusei could almost see his smile. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know, it takes as long as it takes. If it takes all night I'll just sleep here for a few hours. Why are you worried, anyway?"

_It's not like you want to be with me_, the unspoken words seemed to echo. Yuusei winced at his slip of the tongue. Atem was quiet for a painful moment, then he spoke quietly.

"I do care about you, Yuusei. I know I'm not the best at showing my emotions, but I thought you understood that. Was I wrong?"

He sounded hurt. Yuusei cursed himself silently for getting into this mess. "Atem…" he sighed. "Look, I can't do this right now, I need to get back to work. We'll talk when I get back, okay?"

"No, Yuusei," Atem said firmly. "We're doing this now. Have I upset you?"

Yuusei couldn't think of a tactful way to say it, so he just came out with it. "Yeah, you have. Now I need to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Don't you hang up on me, Yuusei," Atem said in what Yuusei privately called his 'pharaoh voice'. Yuusei obeyed unthinkingly. "Tell me what's the matter."

Yuusei glanced at the still-open door, behind which he knew Blake was 'not' listening. He sighed again and said quietly, pain slipping into his voice, "I wish you'd make up your mind what you want from me, Atem."

He quickly hung up before Atem could command him not to, and returned to the computer, burying himself in numbers. His phone rang again within a minute and with one hand, typing with the other, he turned it off, never looking away from the screen. Blake watched him with a raised eyebrow, but Yuusei refused to look at him.

"Fight with your girlfriend?" He said mildly.

"Boyfriend," Yuusei corrected bluntly, his head pounding. He didn't have the mental energy to dance around the issue. "Or I think he's my boyfriend. He hasn't decided on that yet." Yuusei couldn't help but show a little bitterness.

"Ah," Blake said delicately, taking the news with an admirable amount of composure. "Why don't you take a break, Yuusei. You won't get any work done if you're upset."

"I'm not— …fine. I'll take a break." Yuusei said, rubbing his eyes.

"So what's wrong?" Blake asked, sliding him a cup of water and an aspirin tablet. Yuusei took them and tried to order his thoughts. Now he just wanted to get this over with. He couldn't really tell Crow and drag him into this any further, and with a hollow feeling he realised that aside from Crow and Jack, he didn't really have anyone to talk to about it. He suddenly wanted to tell Blake everything just so he wouldn't have to carry it around on his own.

"You remember that night the other week, when we were out at a bar and I had to go, there was a burst pipe?" Blake nodded for him to carry on. "Well, me and my friends had to find a hotel to sleep in while the water was pumped out. I ended up sharing a room with this guy we know, Atem."

"And something happened?"

"Yeah. Yeah, something happened." Yuusei's expression softened a little and a small smile appeared on his face in remembrance of that sweet, lust-filled night. "There had been all this tension between us, and we… er… worked it out." He blushed and avoided Blake's eye as he smiled.

"So what's the problem?"

"I told him I was willing to take it as far as he wants, but I think he misunderstood me." Yuusei frowned and continued shyly. "I want to be _with_ him, not just for sex. But he… he flinches if I so much as look at him outside of the bedroom, but he keeps saying he wants me close, and all that stuff…" Yuusei stopped himself talking before he embarrassed himself further. He coughed and busied himself drinking the rest of the water.

"I don't think I understand. Don't you… have fun together?" Blake asked tactfully.

An unbidden smirk sprang to his lips. "Oh no, the sex is great. Really great for both of us, he's the one who keeps insisting. But he's determined not to be a couple, and I don't know why."

"Does he have an issue with being attracted to men?" Blake asked with a smile.

"No, he's been pretty open about it," Yuusei replied with a shrug. "Before we had sex, he made no bones about the fact that her, er, liked me. But now… I don't know." He frowned and sank a little in his chair. "I feel like the problem is _me._"

"What do you mean?"

Yuusei sighed and covered his face, cheeks burning. "I feel like all he wants now his… I don't know, his desires have been satisfied, all he wants from me is sex. But at the same time he wants me to hold him and spend time with him, though heaven forbid I try and hold his hand. Like he wants both and neither at the same time. It's a mess."

"And you really want to be his boyfriend," Blake said quietly. "That does seem like a mess. But maybe you're just too tired to see the whole story, hm?"

"I don't know, Blake. He admitted he's never had a 'serious' relationship before, so I guess it could just be inexperience… but it's not like he's never been around couples."

"Talk to him about it, tell him what you've just told me. It'll work itself out, Yuusei. It's still early days, after all." Blake said comfortingly, patting his knee.

"I guess you're right," Yuusei said, smiling bashfully at him. "Thanks. I haven't really been able to talk to anyone about it."

"Anytime," Blake smiled. "I like to look after my team, like I said. Do you feel better now?"

"A bit," Yuusei admitted, and just then the aspirin kicked in, banishing his headache to a dim pain. Wonderful.

"Besides, it's interesting to know what you young folk get up to these days. We all thought you were into women, as I'm sure you noticed. Would you like me to keep this a secret?"

Yuusei was touched by his consideration and smiled again at him. "Thanks. I'll tell them in my own time. I don't want it to affect their opinion of me," He admitted. "And I value my privacy."

"They'll hear nothing from me," Blake promised with a smile. "Now, I'm going to get us both some food. I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I'm sure somewhere will be open at this time."

They worked through the rest of the night, and Yuusei found that he was working faster now, as if his confusion had been taking up a part of his attention. The knowledge that he would have to have this conversation over again with Atem later gnawed at him – he was upset with Atem, but not so much that he wanted to ruin their relationship with something like this – but he simply tried to work faster to get it over with.

"Right," He said weakly at about four in the morning. "Fixed. Let's run this thing."

They had to run it at five times less its normal speed to see if any errors still remained, and as such it would run for over an hour.

Blake returned from a bathroom break to find Yuusei had taken a so-called 'qwerty nosedive', and was fast asleep over the keyboard. He smiled fondly and stopped the program. He gently picked up Yuusei's head, who remained fast asleep, and placed his jacket there instead of the keyboard, and covered him in a laboratory coat for a blanket. He figured it was best to leave him there instead of moving him, and quietly set about cleaning up the night's debris.

Yuusei was woken by the noise of the others coming into the office a few hours later. Blake heard him mumble something along the lines of "Later, Jack" before he woke up properly, looking rough. The others apologised for waking him up but he waved them away, saying tiredly it was about time anyway.

"You shouldn't have let me fall asleep," He said reproachfully to Blake, who looked a little tired but not as exhausted as Yuusei did. "I still need to fix some things with it."

"Oh hush," Blake chuckled. "Rueben can do that. You look like you could do with another few hours' rest, you look awful."

"Thanks."

"Well you do. Why don't you go home, take the rest of the day off?" Blake suggested, and was echoed by Rueben, Tinker and Amelia. Farah didn't care, of course.

"I'll stay until lunch," Yuusei reluctantly conceded, still dubious about facing Atem after their sort-of fight. "Just give me a few minutes to wake up. I'll get a shower."

He woke up more thoroughly in the staff showers, and turned his phone on long enough to listen to the confused and apologetic voicemail from Atem, and to call Crow to say he was going home at lunch.

"Good. You know Atem stayed up all night waiting for you? He says he's sorry, you know. I had to explain why you were upset." Crow sounded angry. "Yuusei, I'm your friend and all, but I'm not gonna get in the middle like this again. You talk to him today, you hear me?"

"Yes, mother," Yuusei joked half-seriously. "I'll make it up to you later."

"You'd better! I want spicy noodles this time, Jack always used to eat all of those before I could get to them."

"Spicy Noodles To Go-Go, got it," Yuusei smiled. "See you later."

He spent the morning going over the program with Rueben and Amelia before taking another quick nap in his office, curled up on the floor under his desk. Amelia woke him up to say everyone was going out for lunch, and would he like to join them?

"Sure," Yuusei said tiredly, straightening his clothes as he crawled out. "Where are we going?"

"Why were you under the desk?" Amelia asked, tilting her head enquiringly.

"Earthquakes," Yuusei yawned. She blinked in confusion. "We got a couple of quakes after Zero Reverse, remember? It was bad in the Satellite, and when I was little Martha always told us to sleep under a desk if there was a quake warning. Old habits, you know."

"Who's Martha? And there's no danger of an earthquake…"

"Oh, right." Yuusei said, stretching his back out. "She founded the orphanage me and my friends grew up in, she raised us. And, well… I don't know. My head's a bit fuzzy right now," Yuusei explained sheepishly.

"Maybe you should go home instead of going out with us," Amelia said, straightening his skewed tie for him with a quick smile. "Sleep."

"Nah," Yuusei shrugged, trying to cudgel his brain awake again. "I just spent the night with a computer screen and Blake, I should probably be sociable."

She smiled and led them all downstairs, Yuusei still yawning sleepily and trying to shake himself awake.

"Hey, who's that loitering?" Farah sniffed disapprovingly, pointing at a short figure with weird hair leaning against a railing opposite their building. Yuusei didn't pay her much attention.

"Yuusei, isn't that your friend? The one who collapsed?" Rueben said, nudging him.

"Huh? Atem?" Yuusei peered around the group, ignoring Blake's sudden interest. "Oh, yeah. Go on without me, I'll catch up."

"We'll wait," Rueben said quickly, and gave him a slight push.

With no choice but to bite the bullet and have what was sure to be a god-awful conversation when he was still half asleep, he walked over to Atem, smiling despite himself. Even when leaning on something, Atem could still exude a palpable aura of majesty and quiet confidence. He had a determined expression on his face.

Yuusei got to within a few feet of him and smiled tiredly. "Morning. What brings you out here?"

"You." Atem quickly stepped closer, leaned up, and kissed him. Yuusei froze for a second, sure he should be indignant, but Atem was too damned good at this… he relented and kissed him back, craving the feel of his lips again.

He had expected just a quick peck, a greeting, but Atem's hands slid up his chest and cradled his head, kissing him with a slowly-growing passion. He teased Yuusei relentlessly, breaking contact only to struggle for air. Yuusei felt his arms slide around Atem's waist and pull him up closer, his body getting the better of him, making Atem gasp slightly, the sound so reminiscent of their time together in bed that he couldn't help but kiss him as passionately as he could. In that moment he knew he was the centre of Atem's world, and some hurt part of him felt soothed. Like during their first kiss, they soon became hungry for more contact, pressing closer together and exploring each other's mouths. It was bliss, the only sounds the rustling of clothing and the faint, wet sounds of their lips unwilling to part.

After a few minutes, Atem pulled back just enough that Yuusei leaned forward, eager to continue the kiss, but so that it would be uncomfortable for them both. Yuusei opened his eyes, heart pounding. He felt dazed and baffled, and rather hot under the collar.

Atem stroked his neck and trailed his hands down to cover Yuusei's heart, locking his gaze with Yuusei's. "I wanted you to know that I'm not ashamed – of myself, or of being with you, in private or in public. I'm not using you, I'm not doing this as an experiment. I'm sorry I didn't see my actions were hurting you, and I'm sorry that I gave you pain."

He swallowed, his expression determined yet soft with emotion, and continued, "I know I've been behaving strangely, and I wanted you to know it's because I've… I've never wanted to be with someone as much as I want to be with you. I was afraid it could be used against me. But I know now that I'm willing to take the risk." He took a deep breath and pressed closer, his soul bared in his eyes. "I don't just want you for sex, Yuusei Fudo. I want to be your boyfriend, your lover, your partner. I'm ready to give you all of me."

Yuusei could have walked on clouds, that moment, he was so happy. He was speechless, but Atem must have seen something in his expression that showed his thoughts, because he smiled and gently stroked Yuusei's mark with his thumb.

"Have I embarrassed you sufficiently in front of your work friends to prove how I feel?" Atem smiled, glancing behind Yuusei to the other five scientists. Yuusei glanced back and started to laugh. He couldn't help it, they all looked so shocked (except for Blake, who looked proud for whatever reason).

"I wasn't out at work," He chuckled.

"Pardon?"

"I didn't tell them I was gay," Yuusei explained, and kissed Atem's forehead gently.

"Oh." Atem flushed slightly, face falling. "I'm sorry. Have I made things difficult for you?"

"Don't worry about it," Yuusei smiled, the tension of the last week washed away. He simply felt happy, if exhausted. He was about to kiss Atem again when he frowned, his brain catching up with his libido. "Hang on, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Day off," Atem explained, reaching up to stroke a hand through Yuusei's hair fondly.

"How did you know where I'd be? How long were you waiting there?"

Atem chuckled. "It was no feat of magic, Yuusei. Crow told me you were coming home at lunch. Ergo you would be leaving the building around lunchtime. And this building is so un-subtle you'd think Seto Kaiba designed it. So I simply waited outside for you to appear, and appear you did."

Yuusei tried to find fault with that, and shrugged. "Okay, I'll buy it."

Atem smiled, then suddenly frowned and peered at his face. "Yuusei, you look awful. How much sleep did you get?"

"A few hours," Yuusei said defensively.

Atem rolled his eyes. "Come home and sleep, then. You look about as old as I am."

"I said I'd have lunch with these guys," Yuusei objected, jerking his head in the direction of his colleagues. "Why don't you tag along, now you're here? I could introduce you."

Atem didn't even blink. "Oh look at the time, things to do, people to see."

Yuusei snorted. "Coward," He teased him smilingly, and kissed the tip of Atem's nose. "I'll see you at home in an hour or so, then."

"Count on it," Atem smirked, and leaned up to give Yuusei another smouldering kiss that left him aching for more. Atem's eyes were sparkling with mirth as he pulled away. "Enjoy your lunch. I'll be waiting."

"I'm not hungry anymore," Yuusei smiled, watching him walk away. Atem laughed and waved briefly at Yuusei's colleagues before sauntering away. Yuusei shook his head, pulled his shirt straight and walked back to his colleagues, unable to keep the contented smile from his face.

They stared at him in varying degrees of surprise and shock; Blake looked happy for him while Farah looked disgusted, with the others filling in the range between them.

"So," Yuusei said brightly, choosing to ignore their expressions. He was too happy to care. "Lunch?"

Farah seemed likely to launch in with a poisonous remark but Blake cut her off. "Go home, Yuusei," He chuckled. "Remember to sleep, alright? We'll see you tomorrow."

Yuusei grinned at him and jogged off to join Atem, waving back at them. When he reached Atem, the former pharaoh smiled shyly and extended his hand, palm up. Yuusei felt a rush of warmth in his body and took his hand firmly, walking close by his side as they made their way home with their fingers interlaced. It was the first time Yuusei hadn't minded not taking his motorcycle on a journey, that walk. He had an idiot grin on his face and he didn't even care, because Atem wore an identical expression.

They went straight to bed, though Yuusei had to call a halt midway through a kiss that promised a long, hot night, saying that he was ready to drop and would fall asleep before either of them reached satisfaction. Atem laughed and laid Yuusei down in the bed, cradling his head and stroking soothingly through his hair, if a little hesitantly.

"Sleep, Yuusei," He said tenderly. "We'll pick up where we left off afterwards."

"That sounds good," Yuusei replied through a yawn, already drifting off. He was moments from sleep when he remembered his promise to Crow and stirred. "Crow's noodles," he mumbled, trying to come fully awake. "I forgot Crow's spicy noodles."

"I'll get them later," Atem promised and kissed him on the forehead. "Sleep."

"'M sorry I was mad," Yuusei slurred sleepily. "'M not mad an'more."

"It's fine," Atem replied, trying not to laugh at how childish Yuusei sounded.

"Your speech was nice," Yuusei mumbled into Atem's thigh.

"Thank you," Atem smiled, stroking his forehead, speaking gently. "Now for Ra's sake, get some sleep, Yuusei."

Yuusei obeyed, and fell into a sleep so deep nothing could rouse him, even Atem saying fondly, "Sleep well… Yuu."

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><p>^u^ Hope you enjoyed~<p>

If you'd take a moment to review, or PM me with feedback, I'd really appreciate it.

See you next chapter~


	9. Chapter 9

Hey there~

Sorry this chapter took so long, I had a lovely case of block after the first 100 words or so, and then I went on holiday for a couple of days. Hopefully the extra ~1000 words will make up for the delay ^^'

Also I have recently become stupidly obsessed with Mystrade (Sherlock BBC). I regret nothing, even if it is delightfully distracting.

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM & 5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>The sun bathed Yuusei's room in a warm, golden light, even muted through the drawn curtains. It was ten o'clock on a Saturday morning, and the first Saturday that neither himself nor Atem needed to work. So of course they were having a lazy morning.<p>

By habit they were both early risers, but the opportunity to stay in the warm room and not have to do anything for a change was too compelling.

"We should do this more often," Yuusei smiled, stretching his arms up into the air, lying on his back.

Atem smiled at him shyly, lying on his stomach with his chin resting on his folded arms. "That would be pleasant."

"Something wrong?" Yuusei asked; he was getting better at interpreting Atem's often confusingly formal speech, though sometimes he still needed help. He supposed it was inevitable, as Atem's mother tongue was long dead, and he had been a pharaoh for heaven's sake. He was still learning more modern catchphrases, and wasn't doing too badly.

"No, nothing's wrong," Atem assured him, resting his hand on Yuusei's chest. Yuusei smiled and put his own hand over Atem's, squeezing gently. "I'm still not used to this kind of thing."

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Yuusei asked, kissing Atem's knuckles lightly.

Atem looked down, his dark cheeks a little flushed. "Yes," He replied quietly, seeming to struggle for words. "It feels… good. Safe." He looked embarrassed to have even admitted that much.

"Me, safe?" Yuusei chuckled. "Anything but, Atem. You _do_ know how regularly my life gets interrupted for world-saving duties, don't you?"

Atem laughed softly. "Yes, but that wasn't what I meant. When you…" He flushed suddenly and looked away.

Yuusei turned onto his side to look at Atem, intrigued. "What?"

Atem shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

Yuusei gently ran his hand through Atem's already messy hair, tucking some of the blonde behind his ear. "Go on. I'm not going to tell anyone, you know."

Atem sighed, leaning slightly into Yuusei's hand. "Alright. When you… when you hold me," he said quietly, looking determinedly down at his hands on the pillow, "It makes me feel safe. It's… soothing."

Yuusei had the sudden mental image of a young Atem sitting in a throne room, his father ignoring him as he talked to his advisors. Atem had never mentioned a mother, siblings, or any close friends really. Then he thought of being shoved into command and having to confront horrific threats at such a young age from every angle, with no one to turn to for comfort.

He kept stroking through Atem's hair. "Then I'll hold you more often," Yuusei said softly. "You know, when I was upset the other day, it wasn't because you were being, I don't know, mean or anything. It just confused me that you were so hesitant about being seen together, and so eager to spend the night with me."

"You were right to be upset," Atem said, glancing at him. "I wasn't being fair to you. And it forced me to examine my own feelings and make a decision."

"I'm glad you did," Yuusei smiled. "Especially if you're happier for it."

"I am," Atem admitted, flashing him a smile. "Though why do you always touch my hair? Does it mean something in particular?"

Yuusei grinned and tugged playfully on the central blonde spike. "It means your hair is fun to play with, and it's very soft."

"Oh," Atem blinked, finger-combing his hair out of his face and looking a little uncomfortable. "Thank you."

Yuusei tilted his head to the side, considering the former pharaoh lying beside him. "You've never relaxed with someone like this, have you?"

"No, not that I remember," Atem replied, lifting an eyebrow. "Why?"

"So you've really _just_ done the sex bit?" Yuusei pressed.

Atem nodded slowly. "Yes, and…? What is your fascination with my sex life, Yuusei?"

"Well, most people start slowly," Yuusei explained with a grin, running his hand down Atem's back. "They do hugging, hand-holding, kissing, fooling about, then slowly work up to the sex. Your education seems to have missed out a few steps. It's interesting."

Atem sighed and rested his chin back on his arms. "I don't understand your point, Yuusei." He said wearily.

"Here, I'll show you," Yuusei smiled, an idea sparking in his brain. "Lie still."

"What…?" Atem asked as Yuusei knelt over his legs, trying to look back over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Just lie still, it won't hurt."

Yuusei ran his hands up Atem's back and leaned down so his lips were just touching the skin of Atem's neck. He wetted his lips, pushed Atem's hair off his neck, and gently pressed his mouth to the warm skin in a long kiss. Atem inhaled sharply, rolling his neck slightly.

Yuusei smiled and moved down a mere centimetre and kissed the skin there, kissing him for just a little longer. He slowly moved down Atem's back in long, hot kisses, his hands placed on Atem's ribs. Atem breathed in soft gasps with each touch of Yuusei's lips, eyes closed with a wide grin on his lips. His hands clutched and released the bedsheets as a lazy heat pulsed under his skin.

Yuusei left a damp trail down his back, tasting his skin and slowly moving his hands down to Atem's hips. He sucked a little on the skin the further down he got, his warm breath bathing Atem's skin. Goosebumps rose over Atem's back and he shivered lightly, breathing a little faster than normal. Yuusei kissed the skin just above the cleft of Atem's firm buttocks and then slowly licked back up the line he had made, all the way back up to Atem's neck, whose breath hitched and he made a low sound of pleasure deep in his throat.

Yuusei smirked and kissed his neck again before lying down beside Atem. "Bet no one ever did that for you before."

"No," Atem agreed. "Thank you. That felt… very good." Yuusei smirked at him, satisfied. "So if I were to do this…." Atem said, and ran his finger lightly down Yuusei's chest, circling around his navel an then back up again to his neck.

Yuusei chuckled. "Yes, exactly. See, I'm educating you."

Atem laughed softly and awkwardly shuffled to lie beside Yuusei, draping his arm over the turbo duellist's hips, resting his head on Yuusei's shoulder slightly robotically, as if he were trying it out. Yuusei smiled, feeling a warm glow at Atem's attempt at cuddling and wrapped his arms around him. They lay there for a few minutes and probably would have remained so for a good while longer if Crow hadn't knocked loudly on the door.

"Hey, you two. Zora wants a word. Also there's breakfast."

They heard him stomping away. "He's grouchy in the mornings," Yuusei explained, kissing Atem's cheek and getting out of bed. "If we're not out in a few minutes he'll just barge right in, and I don't know about you but I don't really want Crow to see me naked."

"I like seeing you naked," Atem laughed, also getting up. "But alright."

They appeared downstairs a few minutes later, dressed in their weekend clothes. They went into the kitchen and found Zora sitting there, looking distraught with a mug of coffee clenched between her hands.

"What's wrong, Zora?" Yuusei asked in concern. Her lip trembled as she looked up and she suddenly launched herself at Yuusei, spilling the coffee everywhere. She burst into tears and clung around his neck.

"Oh, it's terrible, Yuusei!" She wailed. "That water company said I have to evict you!"

"What?" Crow exclaimed, clearly having been kept in the dark until Yuusei arrived.

Yuusei awkwardly patted her back. "Why? We didn't cause the leak."

"They said I can't rent the space out with the pipes so faulty," she sobbed, clinging tighter around Yuusei's neck. "A-And that if you boys can't find another place to live soon, I'll be fined! F-For providing faulty premises!"

"It's alright, Zora," Crow said, trying to peel her away from Yuusei, who was having some difficulty breathing. "There'll be somewhere we can live, you won't get fined or anything like that."

"B-But I'll miss you boys so much! Oh Yuusei!" She exclaimed, almost strangling him in the attempt to keep him as close as possible, ignoring the small choking noises he was making and frantically trying to push her away. Atem and Crow managed to get her away and Yuusei massaged his throat a little when he was free, not that Zora noticed.

"It'll be alright," Yuusei assured her in a rough voice. "We'll go house-hunting today. It's not like we'll never come back, we'll still visit."

"A-Alright," She sniffled, blowing her nose noisily on a handkerchief. Atem wordlessly passed Yuusei a glass of water. Yuusei smiled and squeezed his fingertips in thanks. Atem glanced at Crow and Zora and, when he saw they weren't watching, squeezed back.

Their plans for a lazy day neatly scuppered, Yuusei, Crow and Atem went house-hunting. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Crow and Yuusei went house-hunting while Atem tagged along and offered his opinions. Yuusei knew it still had to be frustrating the former pharaoh that he couldn't help in these situations, but he seemed to be dealing with it with more grace than before. When Crow tried to tactfully suggest that Atem leave the money-side of things to him and Yuusei, Atem looked a little irritated for a moment before nodding, accepting his lack of knowledge in the area with a smile and an archaic-looking gesture of his hand; he explained to Yuusei later that it showed acquiescence and respect.

By the end of the day the three were exhausted and their feet hurt; Atem felt a little guilty that due to his inclusion in the party they hadn't been able to take their motorcycles; he was still borrowing Crow's leathers when the situation demanded it. They had looked at quite a few properties, but when Yuusei had told the estate agent their price bracket the man had turned up his nose and suggested that for that sort of price they were better off looking in the Satellite. Crow had wanted to punch the man or duel some sense into him, but Yuusei had restrained him.

Downhearted and worrying about what Zora was going to say, they headed back to the garage to tell her that they hadn't managed to find somewhere else to go. She took the news with a stoic expression, gripping a handkerchief more tightly in her white-knuckled fingers.

"A friend of mine called while you boys were out," She said after a few moments. "He and his wife have been made redundant, and they can't afford their home anymore so they need to move. It's all very sad, but they need to sell the place quickly, so they haven't bothered going through an estate agent. I have the address, if you want to have a look?"

They eagerly rushed off again after grabbing a quick sandwich. The owner of the house was very upset, and they tried to be as delicate as possible when discussing price, but he was happy with whatever they offered, as long as they could buy it quickly.

They took a look around the place that could potentially be their home. It was a small flat, in a tower block at the edge of the city centre; rather close to Yuusei's work, a walkable distance from the Blue Eyes Café and although it was on the other side of the city to the Sector Security training centre, Crow shrugged and said that he didn't mind driving a little extra each day.

"Most nights I'm sleeping at the centre anyway, for early-morning exercises," Crow said in an undertone to Yuusei. "This place looks good for you and Atem, anyway. Just keep the spare room available, okay?"

Yuusei was astounded; he and Atem had only been together for a few weeks, and Crow seemed to be suggesting they take this place as _theirs_, and own the flat _together_. He supposed that they were already moved in together, but that had been more out of convenience than any choice. He swallowed.

Crow smiled in understanding and patted his back. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have dropped that on you just yet. But it's a good place. Not too big, not too expensive, close to your work. There's a separate kitchen area and a living room and two bedrooms. You'd be mad to pass this up, Yuusei." He glanced at the owner at the other side of the room showing a politely-nodding Atem the water meter and lowered his voice. "If they were selling through an estate agent this place would be worth thousands more. Not to be cold about it, but we need to get this place _now_ before they get other offers."

Yuusei had to concede the point. He didn't like to take advantage of the owner's situation, but they needed to move out for Zora's sake, and this had been the only half-decent property anywhere near their price range. He knew they should probably wait and look at more properties – who had ever heard of finding a home in only a day? – but he had that nagging feeling that if they didn't make the offer _right now_ they would lose it.

He nodded reluctantly and strode over to the owner.

Over the next few days they hashed out an agreement over money and when the three would move in. it was all very amiable and in a ludicrously short amount of time Yuusei was being handed a pair of keys for the flat. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Atem about the whole 'moving in together' thing between work and the arrangements, and Atem didn't seem to realise there was anything to talk about. He knew he was going to have to tackle the discussion before long, though, especially as they were supposed to move in over the next week, the owners having fully moved out already.

He worked up the courage the night before they were going to move their bedroom stuff into the flat, gently pushing Atem away as he made to kiss him before bed.

"Is something wrong, Yuusei?" Atem asked with a concerned frown.

"We need to talk about something," Yuusei said awkwardly.

Atem sat down beside him on the bed and nodded expectantly. "What is it?"

"Well… I'm not really sure how to say this, I guess I'll just go for it. But you need to know that, with this flat, we'll pretty much have moved in together."

Atem was quiet for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't understand your point."

"What I mean is that usually a couple will wait for a while before moving in together," Yuusei said, feeling a blush creeping up his neck. "It's kind of a big step in their relationship. It says it's a serious thing."

"And… you don't want to take that step with me?" Atem asked hesitantly, looking unsure if he had understood.

Yuusei's cheeks flamed. "No, it's not that at all. I'd love to take that step with you," He replied, taking Atem's hand. "I just wanted to check you realised that it _is_ a big deal, and whether you would be alright with it."

Atem was silent with thought for a few moments, folding his other hand over Yuusei's. He looked up eventually and smiled shyly. "I'm definitely alright with this, Yuusei. I thought this was 'a serious thing' anyway."

Yuusei blushed harder and gently kissed him, feeling so happy and buoyant it was as if there was a balloon under his ribcage trying to pull him up to the ceiling. Atem chuckled and kissed him back with a strange shyness, his own cheeks a little flushed as their lips tenderly danced.

By the end of the week, they were saying their goodbyes to a tearful Zora, taking the last few boxes over to the flat.

"A-And you promise you'll visit again soon?" She begged, clinging around Yuusei's neck again.

"Of course Zora, we'll be around so often you won't notice we're gone," Crow smiled, trying once again to peel her from Yuusei's neck. She let go and clung onto Crow instead, ruffling his hair and sobbing into his shoulder.

They eventually managed to leave, Zora loading them up with cakes and dampening their clothing somewhat. They stood in the bare living room of their new flat, looking around. Yuusei unconsciously reached for Atem's hand as the enormity of owning his own place struck him; he had never had a place of his own before. Atem smiled and held his hand comfortingly; Crow pretended not to notice and started bustling around, hiding a smile.

"Hey Yuusei, how do you feel about a housewarming party?" Crow called from the kitchen, unpacking pots and pans.

"Who would we invite?" Yuusei called back, slightly distracted by Atem's gentle smile.

"What about Akiza and the twins? Sherry? Rally and Blister and Martha and that lot? Hell, we could even invite Jack and see if he rolls up. And people from work, too. It could be a real party!"

"What is the significance of a housewarming party?" Atem asked quietly.

"Oh. You invite friends around and have a party when you unpack from moving house," Yuusei shrugged. "It's sort of a tradition. What do you think?"

Atem appeared to seriously consider it for a few moments. Yuusei smiled; he always took things so seriously. "It sounds like a good social event. I would meet your friends there, wouldn't I? More of them, I mean."

"Yeah," Yuusei grinned. "I could properly introduce you to Blake and that lot as well if they come; they only really know you as the guy who kissed me outside work."

Atem flushed a little. "Was it awkward after that? I didn't mean to make things more difficult for you."

"It was fine," Yuusei smiled, kissing his forehead gently. "They were alright with it, and Blake already knew anyway. Farah was the only exception, but I don't really care what she thinks about my personal life, if I'm honest."

"Good," Atem said, sounding relieved. He leaned a little into Yuusei's chest.

Yuusei put an arm around his shoulders, looking down at him with concern. "Nervous?"

"I want to make a good impression," Atem admitted quietly, resting his arms around Yuusei's hips. "They're your friends, after all."

Yuusei was quiet for a moment and rested his chin on Atem's head, his spiky hair tickling Yuusei's cheeks and neck. He marvelled for a moment, as he did sometimes late at night when he was holding Atem's sleeping form, that he was holding the _King of Games_, for heaven's sake. It still took his breath away sometimes, especially when Atem admitted his insecurities like this and asked for comfort. It was just such an unexpected event.

"They'll like you," Yuusei assured him quietly. "And even if they don't, _I_ still like you. That's what matters, right?"

Atem smiled and kissed Yuusei's collarbone. "Right."

Crow coughed meaningfully from the kitchen doorway, one eyebrow raised laconically. "Are you two going to help me unpack or shall I point you to the bedroom and leave for half an hour?"

Yuusei flushed in embarrassment but Atem chuckled and joined Crow in the kitchen, leaving Yuusei to unpack the living room items.

They held the party exactly a week after that. Everyone had replied saying they would love to come, with the exception of Jack, who hadn't replied at all. Probably busy with a duelling tournament, Crow had shrugged, trying not to sound hurt. They dipped into their dented money to buy food and make the place look nice, and prepared to receive guests.

The intercom buzzed and Yuusei picked it up. "Is that Yuusei?" Blake's voice filtered through.

"I'll buzz you up. Fifth floor, number seven."

Atem tugged nervously on his shirt; he was dressed in dark clothing with golden yellow and white highlights, a little dressed up. He had acquired a set of wristbands from somewhere and had the leather straps tied securely and just-about visible under his cuffs, the black leather contrasting nicely with his caramel skin. Yuusei thought he looked very handsome, and had told him so when they got dressed.

"You'll be fine," Yuusei assured him, unconsciously adjusting his own navy-blue shirt and pale orange tie knotted casually around his neck. Crow turned on the music and Yuusei opened the door as Blake knocked, greeting him with a grin.

"Blake, glad you could make it," Yuusei said happily, taking his coat and draping it over a chair.

Blake handed him a small bottle of wine with a ribbon tied around its neck. "Happy Housewarming," He grinned back. "Oh yes, everyone from the office should be along shortly. Farah's even coming."

"Really?" Yuusei said neutrally. "I didn't expect her to be free."

"Yes, well, she's making the effort to be nice," Blake shrugged. "Who are your friends?"

"Oh, right," Yuusei said, smiling and beckoning to Crow and Atem. "This is my good friend Crow Hogan, and this is Atem."

"It's good to finally meet both of you," Blake said, sounding genuinely happy. "I've heard so much about both of you."

Atem flushed a little as Blake's eyes lingered on him and smiled nervously. "You too, sir," He said, shaking Blake's hand with a firm grip. Blake grinned wider, apparently satisfied.

"Crow Hogan? Of Team 5Ds fame?" Blake said to Crow, moving on. Crow laughed and chatted with him amiably. Atem glanced uncertainly at Yuusei, who smiled encouragingly. He had apparently made a good impression.

Others arrived quickly, Yuusei's work friends and Akiza and the twins arriving in one great lump. Yuusei was introducing Atem properly to Rueben and Amelia when the twins launched themselves at him in a fierce hug from the doorway.

"Yuusei! We haven't seen you in ages!" Leo exclaimed, hanging on around his neck and laughing with delight.

"It's good to see you, Yuusei," Luna said much more calmly, hugging his leg.

Yuusei laughed and hugged them both, apologising for being so busy. Crow took up the introduction as Yuusei knelt to chat with them about schoolwork and their parents.

"Y-You're Crow Hogan?" Rueben stuttered, eyes wide.

"Yep," Crow replied breezily, grinning. "Nice to meet you both."

"Hello!" Akiza said brightly, edging past the twins to greet them. "I was going to greet Yuusei, but Leo's got him a little busy. How are you, Crow? Oh hello again Atem!"

Rueben tried not to goggle at the legendary Black Rose Witch before him. Amelia, looking very pretty in a flowery summer dress, elbowed him gently in the side and calmly talked with Akiza. Farah ended up beside Crow as people edged past the throng by the door to get drinks laid out on the kitchen table. Her eyes widened as she saw the multitude of Facility marks on his face, but the remark on her lips withered when he met her gaze and raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Mina, Ushio and some of Crow's cadet friends turned up at the same time as well, Mina hanging on the arm of a very happy Ushio. Crow went over to introduce them to everyone and Atem ended up talking with Tinker.

"So, you're Yuusei's… boyfriend?" Tinker began the conversation awkwardly.

Atem smiled easily and nodded. "Yes. And you're the mechanic on the team? It sounds fascinating; Yuusei's said he loves working in your workshop."

Tinker brightened and enthusiastically began educating Atem about the models he was working on currently.

Throughout the evening more and more people arrived, including Martha, Zora and Lynden, Crow's orphan friends, Blister and Rally and Yuusei's old friends, Stephanie and Carly. It got rather crowded and warm in the flat very quickly. Kiryu called briefly to say he was too busy out in the desert to come to the party, but that he would visit another time.

Some hours later Crow glanced out the window and bit his knuckle to smother the laugh that threatened to escape him, not that anyone would have heard over the buzz of conversation. Phoenix Whirlwind had just pulled up outside, bearing a very distinctive rider in a white jumpsuit. He let Jack in unobtrusively, who ruffled his hair and crept up behind Yuusei with a grin.

He tapped Yuusei on the shoulder, who turned and exclaimed, "Jack!" joyfully, his expression surprised but flatteringly pleased. Jack laughed heartily and swept him up in a tight hug, Yuusei's laughs loud and carefree.

Yuusei dragged Jack off to a less populated corner and they talked animatedly about how Jack had been spending his time away from them. Crow sidled up to Atem, noticing the former pharaoh's eyes on them.

"Don't be jealous," He said quietly, handing Atem a drink. "They're just too close."

"I'm not jealous," Atem protested, blushing and tearing his eyes away from Jack's hand on Yuusei's shoulder, looking very comfortable there.

"Good," Crow grinned, unconvinced. "There's no need to be, anyway. Yuusei's very happy with you, and Jack knows that. They were just really close friends way before they were lovers. Jack's been his friend even longer than I have, his only friend for years. They're just happy to see each other. Now stop looking peeved and come talk to Mina, she wants a chat."

The evening continued pleasantly, Rueben blushing furiously every time Jack – the Sultan of Speed himself! – talked to him and looking very awestruck at all the duelling legends crammed in the flat. Yuusei found himself chatting with Blake in the kitchen as they got drinks.

"Great party," Blake smiled, sipping.

"Thank you."

"And Atem seems like a nice guy, too. Are you both happy now? Is everything sorted out?" Blake asked delicately.

Yuusei smiled to himself and glanced out the open door, finding Atem by his distinctive hair; he was sitting on the sofa, listening to Luna with rapt attention as she explained a duel happening between Leo and Rally. "Yes," He replied softly, a gentle warmth blooming in his chest.

"Is he a duellist? He certainly seems to be following that match with interest." Blake commented.

Yuusei felt his smile falter a little; now he looked closer he saw a strange kind of hunger in Atem's gaze as he watched the match proceed, his eyes over-bright and a little bit forlorn; the kind of look you might see on a recent widower's face when looking at old photographs.

"He was, yes. Well he still is, you can't exactly stop being a duellist. But… his deck was taken from him."

"I take it that is a very bad thing?" Blake fumbled.

Yuusei nodded seriously. "Oh yes. He was…" Yuusei sighed heavily, remembering the duel against Paradox. "He was the best duellist. And I mean _the_ best. It's his life, his soul even. And to lose that… it hit him very hard. You can't just rebuild a deck either, and certainly not _his_ deck. Not without changing who you are as a person."

Blake looked at him oddly and Yuusei coughed a little. "I know it sounds strange to be so attached to some cards, but the bond really is that strong. The price of him coming here was to sacrifice his deck and his old friends."

"It sounds pretty complicated. Should I not have asked?"

"It's alright," Yuusei said, forcing a smile. "He's getting used to it. And besides, I might have admired him at first for his duelling, but I'm with him for who he is."

Blake smiled like a proud father. "I'm happy for you, then."

Yuusei smiled at him and went to sit beside Atem, handing him a drink and kissing his cheek. Atem smiled bashfully and hesitantly settled his hand on Yuusei's thigh.

The party eventually wound to a close in the later hours of the night and early morning, as people needed to sleep for work the next day. Jack shooed the last few out the door, saying that he was sleeping on the couch and wanted to get to it, thank you very much.

Silence reigned for a few blissful moments, disturbed only by some paper decorations falling from the ceiling with a soft patter.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Crow announced brightly into the silence. "Good night, everyone."

Jack flopped onto the sofa and pulled a rug over himself. Yuusei grinned and playfully tugged on his hair. "Don't shoot off in the morning, okay? Stick around for a bit."

"Sure," Jack yawned, batting Yuusei's hand away with a tired smile. "Now get to bed, you two. Go on, I want to sleep!"

Atem chuckled and, with perhaps just a touch of possessiveness, pulled Yuusei by the hand into the bedroom. He wasn't jealous… he just wanted Yuusei to himself. They went straight to bed, tired beyond belief and knowing that work was calling from the other side of sunrise.

Atem fell into a deep sleep almost immediately, cradled in Yuusei's arms. Vague memories intertwined with dreams for a while, soothing and nonsensical. But after some time, immeasurable in sleep, they became rather less soothing.

Diabound pursued him across endless deserts, and the Thief's maniacal laughter echoed from the heavens with the insane cackling of Marik's darker half, and the self-satisfied chuckles of Kaiba; mocking him, degrading him as Diabound swept up his helpless friends. Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Ryou, Rebecca, Mokuba… they were all swept up and eaten, their screams rebounding from the moon in a heart-wrenching counterpoint to the scornful laughter mocking him.

The Crimson Dragon appeared with Ra for a few moments and Diabound snarled in frustration before spitting out a curse that made the Crimson Dragon's skin boil and Ra exploded in a burst of fire, dropping to the sand as a helpless phoenix chick, quickly consumed by Diabound in its ravenous hunger. In the dream, he stumbled over his heavy jewellery, somehow half-dressed as a pharaoh and half-dressed as a waiter, snakes hissing at his heels and scorpions crawling over his legs, in his hair, stinging his neck and ears. His own cries joined the multitudes of the sufferers at Kul Edna, begging him to stop their pain, cursing his name.

He tried to run away from it all, but found Yugi and Yuusei blocking his way. He halted, confused by their presence even though his instincts were urging him to keep running, Diabound was mere seconds behind him. He shouted at them to run with him, to escape, his voice cracking, but they were immoveable. Diabound roared behind him and he grabbed their arms, pulling them with all his might and tears running down his cheeks with desperation, but to no avail. Yuusei vanished like a ghost and Yugi was torn shrieking from his grasp, yelling and crying into the night as Diabound slowly tore him limb from limb, his blood spattering hotly on Atem's face. He fell to the sands, screaming his throat raw in horror, and-

-the hard wooden floor met his shaking hands. He blinked, trying to make sense of things. He was kneeling on the floor of the bedroom, tremors shuddering through his body and panting for breath. His skin was slick with sweat. A hand gingerly placed itself on his back and he flinched before realising it was Yuusei.

Yuusei knelt down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. "It was just a nightmare," He said quietly. "It's alright, Atem."

"What… what happened?" Atem asked shakily.

"You were thrashing around, crying out. You had a nightmare – it sounded horrible – but it's alright now, you're awake. You hit me, you know. I was trying to wake you up but you were still asleep." Yuusei replied softly, pulling him close and running his hand firmly up and down Atem's back as if he were a very small child.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"It doesn't matter, Atem. Are you alright? What prompted the nightmare?"

"I think I'm alright now," Atem mumbled, leaning back heavily against the bed and trying to control his shaking hands. "Probably just had too much to eat, or too much to drink or something like that. I don't know what brought it on."

"Have you been worried about anything?" Yuusei asked in concern. Atem shook his head and clambered back into bed, straightening the twisted bedcovers. Yuusei climbed in beside him and held him tightly, stroking soothingly through his hair.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," Atem apologised quietly after a few minutes. "I'm alright now. Get some rest."

"It's alright," Yuusei said and gently kissed the back of Atem's neck. "You couldn't help it. Try and sleep again, Atem. I'm right here if you have another nightmare, I'm not going anywhere."

Atem was calmed somewhat by his presence and his embrace, and eventually his heartbeat calmed and the confused chaos in his mind stilled. But one persistent thought lingered in his mind as he fell asleep again: he usually only had nightmares before something terrible happened.

* * *

><p>Tadaa~ Hope you enjoyed C: Frak, it's been ages since I wrote a dream sequence :3<p>

If you would take a moment to leave a review, I'd really appreciate it.

Dammit, I need to get back to revision. -_-' See you guys in the next chapter~


	10. Chapter 10

Hello again. Sorry for the long wait, exams got in the way and then I lost all motivation. But a big shout out to the-proscribed-king and nerdgasmz from tumblr for their support and thanks again to nerdgasmz for a few pretty awesome fanarts.

YGO/YGO5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>"What is wrong with this thing?" Yuusei exclaimed in an exasperated voice, flicking his fingers at the resolutely blue computer screen.<p>

"Problem?" Rueben asked, coming over.

"Driver crash," Yuusei sighed. "Again. What's gotten into these computers lately?"

"It can't be a virus," Amelia chipped in. "I checked the security software, the system's encrypted like you wouldn't believe."

"Mechanical fault, then?" Rueben shrugged. "Has it just been that one driver?"

"No," Yuusei said thoughtfully, watching the screen fizzle into snow and then black before it started rebooting. "And it's been happening for a while, too."

Rueben shrugged. "Have you told Blake about it?"

"Yeah."

"He'll get someone onto it, don't worry." Amelia smiled.

Yuusei sighed and gently rubbed his eyes; it had been one of those frustrating days where you accomplished one task only to have three more drop into your lap. And now this crash. Maybe his lack of sleep was contributing to his crabby mood, but he had a cold feeling in his stomach that there was something more to this system failure than met the eye.

He frowned at the screen. "No, _I'll_ get on it," He said firmly. "I'm getting to the bottom of this."

Rueben and Amelia exchanged shrugs as Yuusei put on his determined face and started… well, not _hacking_, but bypassing the security networks to try and access the main systems of the computer.

_Just leave him to it_, Rueben mouthed to her, and they quietly retreated across the room to work on their own projects. Yuusei became enveloped in his private world of codes and possible solutions, his thoughts loud in his head, blocking out any other noises.

He did feel his phone vibrating, though, and shook himself out of his detached state enough to answer it, though he kept typing away – he jammed the phone between his shoulder and ear. "Hello?"

"Yuusei, it's Atem."

Yuusei smiled to himself. "Hello. What's the occasion?"

"No occasion," Atem said simply. "I have my lunch break in about an hour, if you're free."

Yuusei paused in his typing and glanced at the clock.

"It's no problem if you're too busy," Atem said calmly in response to his hesitation. "Another time, maybe."

"Sorry, Atem, I am kinda busy. Can I make it up to you?"

There was a pause as Atem invariably translated the idiom into something he could recognise. "Oh. Hmm… we'll see. I think I can come up with something."

"I look forward to later then," Yuusei grinned.

"I'll see you soon," Atem replied with a dark chuckle, and hung up.

Yuusei smiled and put his phone away, his mood improved a little. He ignored the curious and speculative looks of his co-workers and simply lost himself again in numbers. Since the housewarming party their attitudes seem to have mellowed a little, from having gotten to meet Atem personally and chat with him. Farah had even stopped snubbing him during their team meetings.

Jack had stayed around for a day or two, but had ultimately been called back to his tour of the world in search of other great duellists. Yuusei had been sad to see him go again, but as Atem had reminded him, they would see each other again soon. And he wasn't alone, either.

A few hours later Yuusei was no closer to the source of the problem than he had been at the start. He pushed his chair back from the desk and criticized the screen filled with code with narrowed eyes. Something was definitely off about this whole affair. He had tried getting into the core system before, and he had run up against the same barriers this time, but this had a different feel to it – as if the system were sluggish and fighting off an infection.

Yuusei frowned and shook his head; obviously his restless night was getting to him, making him think weirdly. Atem had unfortunately endured two nightmares the previous night, leaving them both tired and unrested, Atem most especially. He had no idea what had brought these vivid nightmares on so suddenly or what they were about, except that Atem said it was never exactly the same dream each time. Small details would change nightly, such as who else was there or what they were wearing, but otherwise they remained the same: Atem running away from Diabound and all sorts of hellish creatures, the people he cared about being consumed no matter what he did to get them to run too.

Atem was looking more and more run-down the longer these nightmares went on, and he had looked especially exhausted that morning as he walked out to go serve coffee and cake all day. Yuusei shook his head, marvelling yet again at the mere notion of the King of Games, former Pharaoh, working in a coffee shop. It was a change of fortunes, that was for sure.

And they still had no clue why Atem had been transported to Yuusei's time, either.

"Yuusei, are you okay?" Rueben asked, looking over. "You've been staring into space for ages. Something on your mind?"

"No, nothing really…" Yuusei said distractedly. "Have you noticed the system slowing up, or am I imagining things?"

Rueben and Amelia exchanged glances. "Um, not really, Yuusei. Maybe you should take a break."

Yuusei had to agree with them, though it irked him that the mainframe felt wrong. He spent a few hours with Tinker, helping him make a housing for the engine they were going to test next week, one of Blake's design. By the time they were through, he had forgotten his irritation and uneasiness and explained it away as his tired brain misleading him. No one else had noticed anything strange, so it must just be him.

The next few days were normal, although Atem's nightmares got progressively violent and frequent. A week after he first started having them he stopped trying to sleep, much to Yuusei's concern. He lay in bed with Yuusei, held tight in his strong arms, and stayed awake until he couldn't physically keep his eyes open in the hope that he would be too exhausted to dream.

It didn't help, the nightmares just kept getting worse, and Atem was looking the worse for wear.

"Take a day off," Yuusei pleaded with him at an ungodly hour of the morning. "Just one day to rest and not have to run around that coffee shop. Please."

"There's no point," Atem replied with a shrug. "If I try to sleep, I'll simply have those dreams again. At work I can be doing something useful."

"Try and figure out what's causing the dreams then," Yuusei said, trying another tack and stroking down Atem's back. "There must be something that's prompted them, that's making them get worse."

"I don't know," Atem said uneasily. "I can't shake the feeling that they're a warning from the Gods. But I don't know what They could be warning me about, or what I'm supposed to do about it. They told me to help you, but I don't know how to do that either without my deck. How else am I supposed to help you?" He sighed in exasperation.

"We'll figure it out," Yuusei replied softly and leant over to kiss the back of Atem's neck. He had no clue either.

"I hope so," Atem sighed again and rubbed at his sore eyes. "Soon. Before these dreams become unbearable."

It started a few days after that. Rumblings of unease throughout the city, violent crime statistics shooting up so fast and for no discernible reason that experts were baffled. More duellists crashed during their Riding Duels in a few days than there had been in the past year, and more ended up in hospital as the result of bitter fights afterward than anyone could expect.

"Something grim seems to have gripped our city," A newscaster announced after a report of a shopkeeper being attacked with a knife for not stocking a particular brand of hair product. "But what could it be, and what could have started all this off?"

Yuusei, watching the report with his co-workers on their lunch break, rubbed at his forearm uneasily. Since the trouble had been serious enough to start making the news, his Signer mark had been itching almost constantly. He didn't like this one bit.

Rueben glanced curiously at him and nodded down to his rolled-up sleeve. "Got any hunches?" He murmured out of the side of his mouth while the others watched the next report, something about students badmouthing their teacher; Yuusei made a mental note to check up on the twins.

Yuusei shook his head. "Nothing. I don't know what this is. Has Blake fixed the system yet?"

"He says there's nothing wrong with it," Rueben shrugged. "You must have just imagined it."

"But it's gotten worse," Yuusei frowned, forcibly cuffing his shirt to stop himself worrying at the Signer mark. "The system's gotten slower and less responsive."

Rueben spread his hands and shrugged again helplessly. "There's nothing wrong with it. The servers might be getting bloated though, maybe we just need some more storage modems."

"Maybe," Yuusei said sceptically.

When he got home Atem was sitting on the sofa holding an icepack to his head. "It's not as bad as it looks," Atem assured him quickly as Yuusei cried out in alarm.

"What happened?" Yuusei asked, kneeling down in front of him and holding his free hand. He peered up at Atem's face and saw a bruise darkening his temple and eye, both of which were already heavy-lidded and bloodshot from fatigue. The skin over his cheekbone was grazed.

"I was attacked at work," Atem said calmly. "I served a customer too slowly, or I didn't make his coffee right or something. He grabbed my hair, slammed me against the wall, shouted in my face and punched me."

Yuusei gaped, aghast. "What… why?"

Atem shrugged and moved the icepack down over his temple. "Something is happening to the city. People seem less inhibited than normal."

"Did you see a doctor or anything?"

Atem shook his head and winced. "I'll be fine, it's honestly worse than it looks. I've had worse injuries through duels."

Yuusei frowned and squeezed his free hand. "I'm sorry this happened to you. How did you deal with it?"

Atem squeezed his hand back. "I didn't fight him – he was considerably taller and heavier than I was. Fortunately the other customers and my colleagues managed to calm him down and call Crow's lot."

Yuusei sat beside him on the sofa and gently pulled him into a hug. "Please tell me you won't go in tomorrow."

"I have to, we're shorthanded," Atem replied, resting his head on Yuusei's shoulder.

"But what about your boss? He can't let you go in after you were assaulted!"

"I want to work, Yuusei," Atem said quietly, raising a hand to stroke Yuusei's hair. He sighed. "I want to be useful."

Yuusei felt a pain in his chest and held Atem tighter. "You are useful," He said quietly.

"How? I don't have my deck, I can't duel, I still don't know enough about this time to be able to do anything…" He sighed again.

Yuusei didn't have anything to say to that, and settled to stroking down his back.

Events in the city only got worse after that point. More crime, more disorder, and Atem's nightmares and the itching in Yuusei and Crow's Signer marks became even less bearable. Even the weather seemed to be conspiring to make everyone moody – storm clouds gathered and refused to break, making the already fraught atmosphere muggy and sticky, and tempers became shorter and more frayed as a result.

Yuusei thought the city, already spiralling into some sort of mania, had to snap sometime soon, but the tension only got worse. Work became almost a nightmare as Farah, Tinker and Rueben sniped and shouted at each other near-constantly. He was worried all the time about Atem while at work, worrying he was going to come home injured either from his irritable customers or from knocking into things from a lack of sleep. Yuusei knew it had to be dangerous to get by with maybe an hour of sleep each night for so long, and with such intense nightmares.

They had discussed taking him to a doctor, but there was the small problem that no records existed of Atem's birth or medical history and they didn't want to draw attention to the fact; and considering that all medical facilities had been hit hard by all the recent violence and Runner crashes, they didn't want to take up anyone's valuable time when it could save someone else's life.

"I can bear them," Atem had said at the time. "If by seeing me, a doctor fails to keep someone else alive… that's something I would _not_ be able to bear."

Yuusei wondered why he didn't seem to be affected, or Atem aside from his nightmares. The longer all this went on the more convinced he was that the nightmares were connected to the city's troubles, but he couldn't figure out how or why. He resolved to get to the bottom of it, however, not only for the city's sake but for Atem's.

He was busy cooking dinner – something cold and quick as neither of them could stand anything hot with the current heat – when there was a timid knock at the door. Atem was trying to have a nap so Yuusei answered it himself.

He hadn't expected to see Leo and Luna at his door, and certainly wasn't prepared for the anxious expressions on their faces.

"Hey, Yuusei," Luna said softly. "Can we stay with you for a little bit?"

"What's happened, guys?" Yuusei asked in alarm, kneeling down just in time for Luna to burst into tears and cling to him. He hugged her gently and looked at Leo, who was trying to put on a brave face, though he was sniffling too.

"Our parents had to go away again," Leo said in a trembling voice. "So we were all alone in the apartment, a-and some people broke in while we were at school, a-and…" Sobs stopped him from speaking.

Yuusei quickly included the young boy in the hug and frowned. "Are you both okay? Not hurt?"

"We're okay," Luna managed through her tears. "But our things were all broken or st-stolen and they'd gone through all our stuff…"

"Shh, it's alright Luna," Yuusei said comfortingly. "Calm down, it's okay. None of that matters as long as you two are safe, no matter how unpleasant it is." He squeezed them both gently.

"We couldn't stay there, Yuusei," Leo sobbed, burying his face in Yuusei's shirt. "All the locks were broken and the windows were smashed, a-and we didn't want to be there if anyone came back."

"Of course you two can stay here with us, as long as you need," Yuusei promised. "When are your parents getting back? Do you have their mobile numbers?"

"We don't know when they'll be back," Luna sniffled. "They'll be so mad when they see the state of the apartment. B-But we do have their numbers."

Yuusei thought it was no wonder the twins referred to it as 'the apartment' rather than 'home' with the way their parents treated it like a hotel. "They won't be mad, it's not your fault. You can stay here as long as you need, just call them to say where you are, okay?"

"Okay," Luna said, wiping her eyes.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Yuusei smiled, ruffling their hair. "Like a long sleepover. Do you have clothes and stuff with you?"

They nodded towards a few rucksacks leaning against the wall outside.

"Well come in then, make yourselves comfy. I was just about to finish dinner. Oh, though Atem's sleeping in the bedroom, try not to wake him up."

They promised to be quiet and settled down in the front room, talking among themselves as Yuusei finished cooking dinner. He served it up and set the table. The twins quickly set to their portions.

Yuusei gently knocked on the bedroom door and, when he got no response, slipped inside the darkened room. Atem was curled up on his side on the bed, fast asleep. Yuusei let out a soft sigh of relief as it didn't seem like he was having any nightmares. He glanced at the miniature shrine-thing Atem had set up in the corner of their room a week or two ago, where he would pray in the mornings before he went to work and when he wasn't distracted by sex in the evening. Maybe his gods were taking pity on him today and letting him sleep peacefully for a change.

Yuusei didn't really know whether to believe or not; after all, he'd seem some paranormal things from his involvement with the Crimson Dragon, and Atem had to have travelled to the future _somehow_. In the end, though, Atem believed his gods were real. That was all that really mattered.

He didn't have the heart to wake Atem when he was finally getting some rest. Instead he gently stroked Atem's fringe and kissed his cheek, smiling when Atem sighed contentedly in his sleep. He was reminded again how curiously innocent and childlike Atem appeared when asleep.

He carefully closed the door behind him and put Atem's dinner back in the oven to keep it warm. He chatted the evening away with the twins, glad to have a chance to catch up with them. With all that had happened, with his new job and Atem, he had scarcely seen them other than the housewarming party. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Akiza much either.

"Akiza? Oh, she's fine," Luna said brightly when asked. "She's not having too much fun with all the anger in the air – kids at school will take any excuse to pick on someone. And she's already beautiful, and talented, and clever, and her parents are rich, so… but otherwise she's fine."

"Do you mean she's been attacked?" Yuusei asked, concerned.

"Oh, nothing serious. Just name-calling," Leo shrugged. "She just ignores it."

Luna frowned at him. "That's still serious, Leo. And she did sort-of get attacked yesterday."

"How do you mean?"

"She was walking home yesterday and apparently some weirdo thugs tried to mug her," Luna said, frowning down at her lap. "She said they seemed perfectly normal until they saw the Signer mark on her arm. Then they went crazy and tried to assault her or something."

"Is she okay?" Yuusei's voice rose in alarm.

"Don't worry, she got away fine," Luna said quickly. "She, er, showed them a bit of the Black Rose Witch and they ran off, she said. She's perfectly okay."

Yuusei frowned, thinking hard. He wondered if he was being paranoid, thinking that these attacks, and Atem's nightmares were all interlinked in some sort of conspiracy. Probably, he decided, shaking his head. He was getting more sleep than Atem, but not by much. Besides, assaults and violent crimes had increased horrendously in the past few weeks, it was just coincidental that his friends had been attacked or their homes broken into almost within a few hours of each other.

He kept telling himself that, his stomach rolling uneasily.

A few hours later, when night had well and truly fallen and the twins had fallen asleep in Crow's bedroom, Atem emerged sleepily from the bedroom with his pyjamas (vest and shorts) rumpled from sleep and his hair all over the place – well, Yuusei corrected himself with a smile, more than usual.

"What time is it?" He asked, yawning.

"About nine o'clock," Yuusei said quietly. "You alright?"

"Fine. Why didn't you wake me up?"

Yuusei got up and took Atem's hands with a smile. "You were fast asleep, Atem. I thought you could do with the rest. I put your dinner in the fridge."

Atem looked down at their hands and smiled. "Alright, fine. I guess I can't quarrel with that. Thank you."

"No nightmares?"

"None, surprisingly." Atem replied, absently smoothing a crease on Yuusei's shirt. He smiled up at Yuusei then leaned up on tiptoes to lightly kiss him.

Yuusei put his arms around Atem's waist and drew him closer, planting small kisses over his lips and chin. It eased his worries somewhat to see Atem well-rested and happy. "Are you still hungry?" Yuusei murmured, his lips buzzing against Atem's cheek.

Atem ran his hands slowly over Yuusei's chest and smirked a little to himself. "No, not really. Let's go to bed, Yuusei."

"I'm not tired y—"

"I said, let's go to _bed_." Atem said in a low voice, his smile playful and knowing. He leaned up a bit higher and kissed Yuusei fully, parting his lips and tasting his mouth with slow, sultry movements of his lips and tongue. Within moments he was pulling Yuusei into the bedroom. It was only as Atem was kissing hungrily down his chest and abdomen that Yuusei recovered his wits a little.

"Wait, Atem, the twins have come around, they're in the next bedroom. We shouldn't, they might hear."

Atem thoughtfully kissed the skin under Yuusei's navel, just above his waistband. He grinned up at Yuusei, mischief in his eyes.

"You'll just have to moan into the pillow then, won't you?" He suggested wickedly, pushing Yuusei down onto the bed.

Yuusei wanted to protest further but his thoughts scattered away like confetti in a whirlwind as Atem undressed him and laid urgent kisses all over his body, reducing Yuusei to a quivering mess biting his hand to stop the lustful groans before they escaped his throat.

Atem jerked his head to one side and Yuusei obeyed the unspoken order, rolling onto his side. Atem crawled over the bed towards him and lay close into him, mouthing at his strong shoulders and pushing Yuusei's leg over.

Yuusei looked back over his shoulder at Atem quizzically and took his hand from his mouth. "What are you doing?"

"Something you'll enjoy," Atem promised with a smirk.

"Alright, but will you at least use lube this time? I'm looking forward to whatever you're gonna do, but it seems painful already."

Atem sighed. "But it's so slippery, I don't like it."

"It's supposed to be slippery," Yuusei explained for what felt like the hundredth time. "Makes it easier on me. Please?"

Atem muttered something that sounded like an ancient curse and dutifully lubricated his lover, mollified by the pleased noises he made into the pillows and how eagerly his body responded. Soon he had forgotten his irritation and was carefully positioning Yuusei's legs so his upper knee was bent.

Taking himself in hand, Atem leaned in close to gently bite Yuusei's earlobe; at the same time, he guided himself slowly into Yuusei, slipping his leg beside Yuusei's bent one. Yuusei bit into the pillow and grinned through the mouthful as Atem began slowly thrusting in and out of him, one hand guiding, the other teasingly stroking along Yuusei's hard shaft. How he managed to do that and still manage to whisper in Yuusei's ear in such an innocent voice, saying such lewd things… Yuusei thought he'd never been harder in his life.

He rocked back with Atem, though he ached to move faster and harder, but Atem seemed determined to tease him as mercilessly as possible. Yuusei didn't even want to be thinking about the sorts of noises he'd be making if he weren't consciously stopping himself by chewing on the pillow like his last meal.

The feeling of Atem pressed so closely into him, their bodies glued with sweat, and the sweet teasing of his hips rolling slowly forward and back… it was driving Yuusei wild with frustrated lust. He wanted more, wanted to be pushed down and taken as hard as fast as Atem wanted – by all the gods, the _King of Games_ – but at the same time, he relished the closeness of it, the intense intimacy of being held so tightly with his body tingling with urgent desire. He felt at the centre of Atem's entire being, so enfolded he felt. They moved slowly towards a release, the tension building up unbearably hot and sweet, but so intense Yuusei could hardly imagine anything better. He didn't want it to end.

But it had to, of course, and when they finished Yuusei felt oddly empty, yet satisfied. He gasped for breath and gingerly let go of the mashed pillow, his jaw aching. Atem chuckled and deftly slipped out, though he didn't move away. He wrapped his arms around Yuusei's waist and gently nuzzled the back of his neck – Yuusei was almost shocked to realised that he was the one usually doing that. He had no idea what was going on in Atem's head at that moment, but he surrendered to it and allowed himself to be the smaller spoon, held securely and tenderly in Atem's arms. He drifted off asleep without even realising it.

Over the next few days, the city continued to worsen, and Atem's nightmares returned with a vengeance after that one sweet night of peace and tenderness.

Atem was still at a loss as to what was going on in the city; he'd never seen anything like it. He hated it. He hated working feeling as if he were going to be attacked at any moment for something trivial, like making too much noise as he walked. He hated constantly having to look over his shoulder. He hated having to get by with only disjointed, patchy hours of sleep. He hated being such a burden on Yuusei. He hated not knowing why he was there or how he was supposed to help with this threat, or even how to recognise it.

He was trying not to let his frustration get the better of him at work, though he almost lost his temper with the coffee grinder once when it seemed to be malfunctioning just to spite him. He prayed twice each day, more if he needed to, to the Gods to beg them for some sort of guidance, but they remained quiet, leaving him to struggle along on his own again.

Just as he was on the verge of throwing the grinder across the room, a shrill scream knifed through the air. Everyone went still and stared out of the window. They watched in absolute silence as a woman ran stumblingly past, screaming at the top of her lungs while her head turned continuously behind her; her expression one of utmost terror.

All the hairs on Atem's arms stood up as shivers chased each other up and down his spine.

Then, more screams. Yells of men, high wails of children and infants, and worst of all: the screams that got louder and louder then cut off abruptly. First in trickles the screaming people ran, dropping their belongings carelessly in their haste to get away from whatever was out there. Then, they came in hordes. It seemed the whole city was fleeing in terror past the café window while the occupants sat in stunned, horrified silence.

What was going on out there? What was everyone running from?

Atem swallowed hard and slowly walked to the door, the café patrons' eyes all on him as he dared to do what they did not. He reached the door and, after a moment's hesitation, opened it. All at once the volume of the screams rocketed, and mixed in through their terrified cries were the sirens of police and ambulances, fire services and who knew what else. Crashes and tortured squeals of twisted metal, surrounded with the noises of burnt rubber and swerving traffic wound themselves through the melody of broken horror.

And, rising above the cacophony, were the deep, monstrous roars of some sort of creature. Atem could have sworn his heart stopped for a moment.

He knew that roar. He knew it from centuries past. He knew it from his nightmares.

"Diabound," He whispered.

He stepped into the chaotic street almost in a trance and turned against the crowd. There it was, in all its horrific majesty. Diabound, looming over skyscrapers and bridges and chasing the human cattle before it as it wreaked casual devastation on Neo Domino. As he watched, frozen in shock and disbelief, it turned its enormous head and looked at him. Not towards him, not in his direction. Directly at him, into his eyes, gazing into him with a cold, malevolent hate that scoured across his soul. Atem did the only thing he could.

He ran for his life.

The crowds caught him up and tossed him this way and that, but he didn't care that he was trampled and shoved and hit as long as he could get away from it. Blind terror consumed him and his nightmares plagued his living eyes, making people long dead seem to be running beside him. He couldn't hear himself over the din of everything else but he was sure he was screaming just as loud in mindless panic.

All that he could think was that he needed to get as far away from that thing as possible. He could barely see anything in front of him and he didn't know how much time had passed when he finally became aware of his surroundings again.

He was somewhere dark. Dripping. Small. He could still hear the screams and sounds of rampage, but they were dimmed. The loudest thing he could hear was his own panicky breaths, echoing and rasping off the close metal walls. He closed his eyes and covered his ears, hunching in on himself. He concentrated all his attention on enduring the shudders and shakes that invaded his body and trying, unsuccessfully, to shut out the nightmares in his head.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed reading, feedback would be appreciated :)<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Well this is a quicker update than I expected :) Also, I've created a blog for my better fanfiction work, including this story and some oneshots I haven't posted here. If you're interested you can find it at spanglepress . tumblr . com

YGO & YGO5Ds (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p>The ringing in his ears was what seemed to pull him out of unconsciousness, though at this stage he couldn't be sure. The ringing was just so <em>loud<em> he couldn't possibly stay asleep with that noise. Yuusei opened his eyes groggily, not sure why his left eye seemed heavier and more tender than his right. He sluggishly took stock of his situation.

He was laying sprawled on concrete, in a large room filled with smoke. Rubble surrounded him and dimly, through the persistent ringing in his ears, he could hear screaming and what sounded like the falling of buildings. That was alarming enough in itself.

Tentatively he tried moving his fingers and toes, and the relief that swept through him as movement obeyed him was almost enough to knock him out again. Very carefully he tried moving his arms and legs, and grinned tightly as he felt nothing more than bruises and scrapes. No broken bones, from what he could feel, though his right arm was a little uncomfortable. He reached up and cautiously touched the back of his neck, just to make sure. He couldn't feel any wounds or pressure, and his head only seemed to hurt around his left temple.

Moving slowly, he got to his hands and knees, staying low from the smoke and covering his mouth with a corner of his now-tattered labcoat. He looked around the wrecked room and tried to recall what had happened.

They had been gearing up to test a new engine type, one they had been designing after the explosion of the last prototype. Tinker had been really pleased with it as well, certain that it was more robust than the previous models and simulations. Even Farah couldn't pick any faults with it, and Blake had given it the go-ahead. Yuusei hadn't been as happy with it as the rest, preoccupied by the slow computers and Atem's troubles, but he hadn't seen any gaping flaws with it.

They had gathered here again and everything had been going well… until Amelia had made a choking, gasping noise that had cut through the air like a knife and chilled them all to the bone. And then nothing until waking up just now.

Looking around the room, he guessed the engine had exploded in an even more spectacular fashion than before, taking out the observation cell with it. The thought of how much force that would require made his head spin and he grimaced. He was surprised the building was still standing, though it looked about to collapse in here.

He staggered to his feet, the scuffing sound muffled and distorted as if he were underwater. He stumbled around the room (his balance felt a bit shaky) bent over and trying not to cough into his labcoat as his eyes stung and ran. He searched the room, but he was the only one inside.

Where were his co-workers? If they had gone somewhere, why hadn't they taken him with them, unconscious or not? He wasn't sure whether to feel paranoid or worried – had they been abducted or left him there on purpose, sure to slowly suffocate on the smoke? Either way it wasn't good.

He had to stop moving for a few moments – how long had it been since the explosion? – to cough and gasp for breath. He would have to get out of here soon. He looked down at his arm, shocked to see his sleeve tattered and sliced with dried blood crusting over it. And through the remains of his shirt his Signer mark burned. All at once reality came crashing down in a rocketing of sound and sensation. Chill sweat beaded on his skin as the screams, roars and crashes from outside assaulted his ears, and the pain of many small cuts and bruises and aches piled on top of the horrendous burning feeling on his arm. His Signer mark glowed through his shirt and felt so hot he was surprised his shirt wasn't scorched away. The burn ate into the muscle of his forearm and tears blurred his vision. He fell to his knees and cradled his arm into his chest, gasping and coughing for breath in agony.

Something was terribly, dreadfully wrong with Neo Domino and he knew that he would be needed, but the pain of his arm and his lungs was all-consuming. Fear for Atem and his friends immobilised him for long, excruciating seconds.

He managed somehow to dig deep within himself and stand again, his knees sending little jolts of pain up his legs as well now. He stumbled towards the centre of the explosion, almost blinded by tears of pain. The engine had been split wide open and metal shrapnel surrounded it, most still glowing red-hot. He stepped through the litter and made it to the black box still miraculously attached and unharmed. Moving quickly and ignoring the heat and the searing of the labcoat covering his hands, he detached it.

Breathing unevenly, he tripped back from the engine and towards the broken wreckage of the observation cell. Almost all of the computers inside had been obliterated but he gathered up what he could. He felt sure that whatever was happening outside and the disappearance of his co-workers was tied up with the engine explosion, and he needed to understand that before he could even think about helping outside.

He bundled up the parts in his labcoat and lurched away, pushing open the swinging, broken door on his way out. As he reeled down through the empty building, he wondered when everyone had evacuated and why the fire alarms and sprinklers weren't going off from all the smoke still in the testing room.

By the time he had made it to the car park his head felt a little clearer, though he felt as if he had a black eye and his headache wasn't going away. He had stopped coughing but his arm was as bad as before. He deposited the computer parts in the compartment under the seat of his Runner and took a moment to splash some water over his face from the water spigot in the corner which was supposed to be used for vehicle maintenance. He felt a little better, and bathed his Signer mark under the flow, which alleviated the pain a little. He carefully washed the dried blood from his left temple and investigated the wound; it seemed like he'd been hit with some shrapnel, though luckily there wasn't anything lodged in his scalp. But knowing that the blood was dried gave him chills: he had been lying unconscious long enough for the wound to scab over.

He could have easily died of smoke inhalation in that time.

He shuddered and pushed the thought away to consider later.

He carefully put on his helmet, wincing as it pressed against his temple, and walked his Runner to the door of the abandoned garage still full of unclaimed vehicles. He opened the door cautiously and stopped in shock when he saw the streets.

People running and screaming, shops in flames, buildings crumbling, and what sounded like a gigantic beast roaring. Nobody seemed to be rioting or looting, just running as fast as they could and trampling everything in their way.

The pain in his Signer mark spiked and his thoughts went immediately to Atem. He would have no idea what was happening (not that Yuusei knew what was going on) and would probably be terrified. Yuusei gulped hard and got on his Runner. Driving through the streets like this would be close to suicide, but he had to find Atem and his friends before something terrible happened to them.

That drive was one of the most terrifying things he'd ever done.

He swerved around screaming people, fighting all the time not to look at whatever they were running from so that he could concentrate on his mission. He lost count of the number of times he almost ran someone over or nearly clipped them as they ran unheeding in front of his Runner. Reckless, so horribly reckless, but he _had_ to find his friends, and especially Atem. From what he had said, this sounded awfully similar to his nightmares. There had to be a connection, he thought, between the nightmares, the explosion at the lab, the disappearance of his co-workers and the appearance of whatever this was.

After a heart-stopping ten minutes of being surrounded by chaos and people blinded by fear, of driving through back-alleys at breakneck speed to avoid people, of sudden braking and swerving and almost losing control of his Runner every time, he finally arrived at the Blue Eyes Café drenched in panicked sweat.

Dread made his limbs seem heavy as he pushed open the swinging door and stood inside the empty café. Tables had been overturned and food was scattered over the floor, sure signs of hasty departures.

"Atem?" He called, his voice seeming far too loud in the silent café, though the cacophony outside threatened to drown him out. "Atem!"

No answer.

"Atem, are you here? Are you hurt?" He called louder, heart thudding with fear and anxiety. He began searching through the premises, his voice louder and more frantic by the minute. "Atem!"

There was no one there at all, everyone had run out. Yuusei forced down the wave of panic that threatened to drown him as he thought of Atem being trampled in the crowds. He called out one more time, his voice echoing mockingly back to him.

Where would he have run to? He mounted his Runner again and sped off through the streets, trying to think himself inside Atem's head. Where would _he_ go if he were a Pharaoh stranded in the future faced with some sort of threat?

A place of worship? Home? … Towards the threat? Oh no. Definitely towards the threat.

Yuusei was about to change direction and go against the crowd when he saw a small girl sitting in the middle of the road, right in front of him, crying her eyes out. He swerved and shrieked to a halt, terror sweeping through him at the thought of almost running her down. He dismounted and crouched next to the poor thing.

"Hey, kiddo," He said softly, flicking up his visor and smiling. "Where are your parents?"

The child looked up at him mistrustfully, sniffling into her hands and sucking on her thumb.

"It's alright, my name's Yuusei. What's your name?"

"Maria," She mumbled reluctantly. "Are you the man from the TV?"

His smile widened despite him. "Yeah, I am. Guess what, I'm going to try and help you, Maria. Do you know where your parents are? I'm sure they're looking for you."

Her lip wobbled and she burst into tears afresh. Yuusei swallowed a sigh and sat down with her, ignoring the chaos around them. He took off his helmet and shook his hair out; the pressure of the helmet on his head wound was getting rather painful. She looked like she'd been here a while – her dress was tattered and filthy at the hem, and she had a small smear of blood on her cheek. It didn't look like it was hers, though. She was missing a shoe and her bare foot was bleeding with gravel and litter stuck to the abrasions. Her short blonde hair was messy and a flower hairclip hung on for dear life.

"Hey, Maria, it'll be okay. Tell me how you got here."

She hiccoughed to a stop and wiped her eyes with the back of her small hands, though she kept her thumb near her lips. "I don't know," She whimpered. "Daddy and me were playing in the garden, a-and Mama came out, and she said we had to run, a-and then everything got loud, and Daddy picked me up and started running, but something happened, a-and I don't know where he is…" Yuusei shushed her gently before she could work herself up again.

"What were you playing with your Daddy?" He asked kindly.

"Hide and Seek," She mumbled.

"I used to play that with my friends when I was your age," Yuusei replied. "We always had so much fun. I bet your Daddy played it when he was small as well. Do you know where he might be right now? If you were still playing Hide and Seek? Or maybe where Mama might be?"

Maria shook her head, lip wobbling again.

"Okay, well let's see. I'm trying to find some of my friends too, why don't you come with me as we'll look together? How does that sound?" He smiled.

"B-But, what if Daddy comes back here to look for me?" She hiccoughed.

Smart girl, Yuusei thought. "I know, Maria, but you can't stay here, it's not safe. When everything's calmed down I'll take you back home if we haven't found Daddy or Mama already, and they'll be sure to be there. Okay?"

She nodded reluctantly. "Did you really save the city before? From that sky thing?" She asked, getting to her feet and keeping her weight on her shod foot.

"Yep, me and my friends." Yuusei lifted her easily into the Runner Seat with a smile.

"And you'll save it again?"

Yuusei swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. "Of course," he said, with a confidence he didn't feel. He gently reached out and pinned her fringe back from her eyes with the flower clip. "Have you seen what it is? It could really help me if you do."

She popped her thumb into her mouth and mumbled around it, "It's a big spider."

He nodded thoughtfully and started walking the Runner, with its small passenger, through the back alleys. Another Earthbound Immortal? His Signer mark _was_ burning still, but it felt different from when the Dark Signers were stirring up trouble.

"I'm just going to call one of my friends, okay?" Maria nodded, sucking on her thumb and looking around at the chaotic streets uneasily.

Yuusei got out his phone and quickly dialled Crow's number. He was rerouted to Crow's Cadet helmet.

"Yuusei? Oh thank goodness, I couldn't get through to you before. Where are you?" Crow answered, sounding stressed.

"I'm… somewhere near the café," Yuusei answered. "I'm okay. What about you, what's happening?"

"I haven't got a clue," Crow replied, then cursed. Yuusei heard the sound of swerving vehicles and screams. "Something's up in the sky, or wrecking buildings, or something like that, and everyone's terrified out of their minds. I hate to say it, but the Security Forces are worse than useless right now – hardly anyone's kept their head at all, most are running around with the rest of them."

"Where are you now?"

"West side of the city. I'm trying to help where I can but no one's listening, just running."

"Have you heard from anyone?"

"Apart from you? No. Either no one's answering or most phone lines are down or disrupted. You?"

"Same." Yuusei hesitated. "Do you have any idea where Atem might be? I think we need him." Yuusei couldn't keep the anxiety from his voice.

"You mean he's not with you?" Crow said in shock. "I've no idea. If he's not at the café, maybe he's back at the apartment? I don't know, I've got to—"

A rush of static, and the call disconnected. Yuusei tried to call again, but static was all that replied. He swallowed and put the phone away.

"What's wrong?" Maria asked, thumb still in her mouth. He turned to look at her and put on a brave face.

"Nothing," He lied. "He was just a bit busy to talk, I'll call him back later."

She nodded, though the look in her eyes said that she knew he was lying, but wasn't going to question it. She sucked her thumb harder. "Where are we going?"

Yuusei thought hard, conflicted. He needed to find Atem and his friends, he could feel it in his heart and in the burning of his Signer mark, but this girl needed someone to look after her, and he was the only candidate. Could he drop her somewhere and go on to find his friends? He was desperately worried for Atem.

He looked at her uncertainly, and her eyes filled with tears. "Please don't leave me," She whispered. "You promised you'd help me find Daddy."

Oh, damn. He couldn't abandon a child.

He forced a smile. "I'm taking you back to my place. Hopefully some of my friends will be there and we can work out what to do next and how to find your Daddy. Okay? It's not too far."

She nodded and smiled timidly. Yuusei tried to settle his conscience as they travelled. Surely Atem would be there. He wouldn't be lying in the road somewhere, trampled to death, or squashed under falling masonry, or anything like that. No way, he was the King of Games, he'd be at home or trying to face off against whatever this threat was – Yuusei still hadn't seen it. Whenever he tried to look where people were running from, there were always buildings in the way, and he couldn't hear anything above the screaming and commotion of terror in the city.

Maria followed him around as he parked his Runner in the building's garage and removed the computer parts from the seat.

"What are those?" She asked around her thumb, holding onto his trouserleg.

He smiled down at her. "Things to help me fix all this. I'm sorry I can't carry you and all this at the same time. Do you think you can walk to the lift with me?"

She nodded bravely and limped beside him, still clinging to his leg. She shrank back behind him when they got out of the lift, however, seeing Leo and Luna sitting outside Yuusei's door.

They sprang up when they saw Yuusei and hugged him tightly around the waist. "Yuusei!" Leo cried out, sounding relieved beyond measure.

"Are you two alright?" Yuusei asked quickly, shifting the computer parts under one arm with difficulty checking them over. Aside from some minor rips and stains in their clothing, and their red eyes, they seemed unharmed.

"We ran out of school as fast as we could," Leo said. "When all the crazy stuff started happening. Everyone was panicking and the teachers ran away and it was so scary," He sniffled.

"We thought it would be safer to be with you," Luna said softly. "So we waited here."

He knelt down, ignoring the pain that flashed through his knees and setting the electronics down, and gently wiped their eyes dry. "It's okay, kids, it's safe here. I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it. Okay?"

The twins smiled hesitantly at him and he ruffled their hair. Luna peeked around him.

"Oh! Who's this?"

Yuusei turned and smiled at Maria, who was hiding behind him, thumb tucked firmly into her mouth. "This is Maria, I'm helping her find her parents. Maria, these are my friends Leo and Luna. Why don't you come say hello?"

She edged around him, holding onto his leg still, and mumbled a hello. She was quite a few years younger than the twins, Yuusei noticed. He hadn't really thought about her age before.

"Why don't we all go inside? I need to take a look at Maria's foot and backup this information."

They agreed and soon Leo was raiding the fridge like there was no tomorrow while Luna scolded him. Yuusei put the computer parts down on the cough and looked around quickly, heart sinking. Once he saw Leo and Luna outside he had known Atem wouldn't be here – he would have let them inside. But he had still hoped.

He looked into the bedroom and sighed, thinking of that morning when they had eaten breakfast with bags under their eyes and kissed goodbye with hardly any words spoken, they had both been so exhausted from Atem's bad night. They'd forgotten to make the bed as well, and the covers lay in disarray, shaped roughly around their bodies as they had slept. He could still see the indent from Atem's ridiculous hair in the pillow.

He could feel the stress of the day creeping up on him. At that moment he just wanted things to be normal. Why couldn't he have more than a few months without some kind of disaster? Why couldn't he just enjoy his own life and be happy with his friends and with the unexpected joy of being Atem's partner? He wanted Atem to be there with him, healthy and happy, and to lie down on the bed and sleep. Or possibly just cuddle and kiss for hours. He glared half-heartedly at Atem's makeshift shrine in the corner and sighed.

There was a small tug on his leg and he glanced down, jumping a little. Maria had followed him and he hadn't noticed. Her eyes were huge and sad in her grime- and tear-streaked face.

"What's wrong?" She asked around her thumb.

He forced a smile. "Nothing, just thinking."

She gave him that I-don't-believe-you-but-okay look and offered up a tiny smile.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." He reached down and she took his hand, clinging to his fingers. He led her into the bathroom and sat her on the edge of the bath, leaving the door open so he could hear Leo and Luna. "Now, I need to clean your foot up, Maria," He said gently, sitting down in front of her with a damp flannel and some antiseptic from the medicine cabinet. "It'll hurt a bit, but it'll stop your foot from hurting too bad. Okay?"

She nodded and wriggled her toes, wincing. As he carefully washed the wounds and picked out the grit with both water and antiseptic, he told her stories from his childhood with Jack and Crow in the orphanage, and all the silly things they had gotten up to. It kept her attention off the pain in her foot at any rate, and she even smiled a little when he described a prank he and Crow had played on Jack involving ramen and worms.

Eventually her foot was clean, though she had several long gashes and several abrasions that looked rather painful. He looked up at her and saw she was trying not to cry.

"There now, you strong girl," He smiled, gently patting her knee. "All done. I'm just going to put a small bandage around your foot to keep it clean, okay? You've been so brave, I'm really impressed. I know I couldn't cope with it if my foot were like that."

She sniffed and smiled, taking her thumb out of her mouth. He quickly got a bandage from the cabinet and called out to the twins, "Luna? Do you have a dress or something Maria could borrow? Hers needs a wash."

He heard Luna rummaging around in the other room. "It'll be a bit big," She called back, and peeked around the bathroom door.

"What do you think, Maria?" Yuusei asked the young girl, gently winding the bandage around her foot with a steady hand. When they were kids he had always been the 'doctor' of his friends, patching them up when they scraped their knees. She smiled shyly and mumbled her thanks to Luna. Yuusei finished wrapping up her foot and tucked the ends in neatly.

"There now. Luna, why don't you help Maria get changed? Some of those buttons look tricky."

"Sure," Luna beamed. Yuusei patted her on the head and wiped the smudge of blood from Maria's cheek.

"I need to make a few calls. See you two in a few minutes," He smiled and shut the door. He ruffled Leo's hair on his way to the bedroom and closed the door firmly behind himself. He sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping imprints, and held his mobile in his hand, staring down at it in trepidation.

He hadn't tried calling Atem yet because he was afraid to hear it ringing on and on and on with no answer. He was afraid of thinking of it ringing unheard in Atem's pocket as he lay dead. Cursing himself for a coward, he tried Crow again.

After a few more tries, he gave up, sick of the static and of anxiously waiting for a reply. He tried Akiza as well and sighed in relief when she picked up.

"Akiza! Are you alright? Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm at my parents' place," She replied, voice a little fuzzy from the bad reception. "What about you, are you alright? Oh gosh, how are the twins? I tried looking for them when Hell broke loose at the school but I couldn't find them and I had to go check on my parents…"

"They're fine, they're here with me," He replied tiredly. "I'm okay. Got caught up in an explosion at work, but it's nothing a shower and some sleep won't fix."

"An explosion? Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He rubbed absently at his Signer mark – he had been able to ignore the pain while dealing with the kids, but now he was on his own the agony was back in full force. "Hey, Akiza, is your Signer mark doing anything?"

"It hurts like nothing I've ever felt," She replied in a pained voice. "Do you know what's going on?"

Yuusei swallowed the flash of irritation that he should _always_ know what to do, _always_ have a plan. He was just as clueless as her.

"No, I don't," He said after a moment. "Try running your arm under cold water, it helps for a bit. I'm going to try and look through some data from work, see if it's related or not."

"Thanks. Don't tire yourself out, okay? We'll need you going full-speed for the next couple of days. Hey, how's Atem? This must be hard for him."

Yuusei clenched his jaw. "I don't know where he is," He forced himself to say. He heard her gasp as a rush of static and breath on the other end. "I'm going to try ringing him now."

"Good luck, I hope he's okay. I'll drop by and say hi to the twins when the roads calm down a bit. Bye for now."

He hung up and bounced the phone in his hand. He glanced again at the pillow, remembering laying there with Atem pressed tight against him, thrusting slowly into him and whispering in his ear. His throat tightened and he quickly dialled Atem's number, clutching it to his ear with his heart pounding.

The dial-tone cycled for what seemed like hours, then there was a clicking noise.

"Oh, yes, it this recording now? Right. This is Atem's voicemail. Please leave a message and I'll—" It was cut off by a beep. Yuusei smiled ruefully; it had taken them half an hour to even get that much and after that they had given up.

He cleared his throat. "Atem, it's Yuusei. Please, _please_ call me. I'm at the apartment right now, head here if you can." He swallowed, feeling his voice catch in his throat. "Get here as soon as you can. Where are you? I—"

The beep sounded again before he could leave a longer message. He put the phone down on the bed and closed his eyes, waiting for it to ring with his heart leaden in his chest.

Across the city, Atem rocked himself in his small, dark room. He didn't hear or feel the phone ringing and certainly didn't hear the message. He couldn't hear anything other than Diabound's profane roars and the terrified screams of those he loved. He couldn't think, could barely breathe, couldn't do anything other than whisper garbled prayers and lose himself in what could be visions or hallucinations or reality, he couldn't quite tell.

Mana appeared before him, her face twisted with sympathy. "You have to get up, my Pharaoh," She said softly. "They need you out there."

Atem felt the heat of Egypt's glorious sands on his face, and the dry wind moving his hair as he looked up at her cautiously. He felt like a young boy again, playing games of make-believe with Mana while waiting for Father to finish with his business for the day so he could spend time with him. "There's nothing I can do."

"Don't say that," Mana said, brushing her hair out of her face and reaching out one dainty hand to him. "They need you, my Pharaoh. You have to get up and find the Signer. Please."

"I can't," He whispered. "It's Diabound, Mana. The only way I could defeat it before was by sealing myself away." He felt tears spill down his cheeks. "I don't want to go back to the Puzzle, Mana, I can't do it. Three thousand years was too hard last time, I can't do it again. I can't lose my memories, they took too long to come back, I won't do it!"

"Calm yourself," Mana said, tears welling in her eyes. "Oh, my Pharaoh. You're stronger than this, you know you are. And you're desperately needed."

"I won't go back to the Puzzle," Atem choked, hugging himself tighter. "I won't, I won't!"

Mana put her hand on his knee, warm and solid. "No one's asking you to go back, my Pharaoh," She said softly. "You need to calm down and face that thing. You're needed."

"What am I supposed to do, Mana? I can't duel here! I don't have my deck, and anyway it would be too old to work in this timeline. There's no way I can help. I just can't do it, I can't."

"Yuusei needs you," Mana replied softly, sitting beside him and patting his back sympathetically.

"She's right you know," A new, male voice said. Mahaad sat down on the other side of Atem and put his arm around his shoulders, a comforting, strong weight. "He needs you, and this world needs you. You have to get up."

"I'm tired of fighting," Atem whispered, shame burning his cheeks. "I'm tired of always having to save the day. I just want to exist."

"I know," Mahaad said sadly. "But just once last time?"

"The duel with Yugi was supposed to be the last time! Will there be another 'last time' after this, and again, and again?"

"Pharaoh, please calm down," Mana begged, wiping away tears and clutching his arm so tightly it hurt. "You have to get up! You have to fight!"

Atem shook his head and hugged himself tighter, weeping inconsolably. Mahaad gave Mana a sad look and she bit her lip over her tears. They put their arms around their Pharaoh and sat in silence with him, though if anyone had found them, they would have only seen a young man with strange hair curled up on the floor like a young child, talking to his imaginary friends.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed that update. Reviews would be appreciated ^^<p> 


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